Sree Narayana Guru and Kerala’s caste conundrum

M.R.Lalu    

India’s caste centric politics frequently gives us devastating jolts. It turns unpredictable as churn in the caste equations topple fortunes of parties and candidates alike. So are the conflicts about controversies on the narrative wars and the resentments of castes, groups and religions. In the present scenario, castes can topple governments and even reinstate them as well. Why do I call the politics caste centric? Most of the parties while strategizing the winnability of candidates first choose to underline the caste equations of the region. And the matter that I am going to discuss in detail here exposes the divergent views that the parties carry out without a sense of blemish. The recent narrative war began with Udayanithi Stalin the DMK scion in Tamil Nadu whipped up a storm. His call for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, which he accusingly declared as an epidemic of malice, was the most devastating remarks that any politician could have uttered. His nonconformist verbal war on the world’s oldest religion was a reintroduction of an ideology that his party continued to execute in a turbulent Dravidian political mobilization in his state which began with a convulsive and atheistic political movement by Ramaswamy Naickar popularly known as Periyar. The movement remained a detractor of Sanatana Dharma, especially of its alleged caste discrimination. Junior Stalin’s call for its elimination continued to serve as fertilizer for the BJP’s Hindu mobilization, which successfully captured the power of the wind possibly consolidating the majority sentiments especially while the Northern states went to polls. Throughout its campaign in the National Elections too, the BJP did not leave a leaflet of controversy the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu triggered. That was understandable as politics is played out from unpredictable directions.

Unsurprisingly, the second in the line of a similar raging controversy was from the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He represents the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the party that throughout its electoral ascend and downfall consistently maintained its anti-sanatana stance. This time, he chose to highlight the social influence of Sree Narayana Guru, the most popular saintly social reformer of Kerala from the 20^th Century. He said Sanatana Dharma commands the patronage of the powers that has resulted in the continuing oppression of Dalits, backward classes and minorities in rural areas in North India and in Kerala, Vijayan continued that Sree Narayana Guru consistently fought against it and therefore, he did not belong to the Sanatana fold of spirituality.  Now, who was Sree Narayana Guru and what is the significance of the Sivagiri Madhom that the Guru founded? For reasons ranging from Sree Narayana Guru’s spiritual dimensions to his involvement in eradicating untouchability, Vijayan’s attempt to ridicule the notion of the social reformer’s Sanatana line did not sit well with his political opponents, especially the BJP.

Sree Narayana Guru, deeply disturbed by the casteism and untouchability in Kerala, began his revolutionary reform movement. A section of the marginalized society was prohibited from entering temples where the entry was only for the upper communities. Agitations to abolish temple discrimination later led to the Temple Entry Proclamation in 1936. It opened temples to all Hindus irrespective of their castes. Being a member of the oppressed Ezhava community, Narayana Guru’s agitation took a different line. He consecrated a Siva idol by the Aruvippuram River. The reform movement he started was to abolish caste discrimination and the temple he consecrated was for all castes. As he faced resentment from the Brahmins and the upper castes, he announced that the idol he sanctified was of the Ezhava Siva. The philosophy he propounded “One Caste, One Religion, One God for mankind” became the slogan of the mass. It got easily popularized and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) which was established by his blessings had the sole purpose of uniting the backward communities. Calling it Sree Narayana Dharma, the saintly reformer wanted to clarify to his cohorts that the idea of propagation was not different from Sanatana Dharma, though he fought against certain practices of the creed.

The Ezhava community is classified as an Other Backward Caste comprising an estimated 24% of the state’s population. Ezhavas are known to be the traditional vote bank of the Communist Parties and the event that Vijayan chose to put his controversial view was the inaugural function of the 92^nd Sivagiri pilgrimage at Varkala on December 31, 2024. Vijayan sought to criticize Sanatana Dharma equating it with Varnashrama Dharma which according to him, is regarded as the foundation of the modern day caste system. Narayana Guru remained a principal opponent of the malpractice of the caste system and it led a huge population of the marginalized communities to suffer mostly at the hands of the upper castes. Vijayan purposefully refused to highlight the Guru’s stance on Sanatana Dharma. Guru remained an ardent follower of the Advaita philosophy and its proponent. Against the casteist oppression he chose spiritual renaissance.

Why did Vijayan have to stir up this new controversy while he knew the opposition, especially the BJP would jump into frame him as anti-Sanatan?  Though electorally weak, the BJP has considerably intruded into the space of dominance of the Left parties especially among the Ezhavas. Previously, the Sivagiri pilgrimage was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Madhom invites political leaders and spiritual personalities from across the spectrum and allows them to feel the spiritual realms of the Guru. A probable political shift that the Left parties sensed among the Ezhavas to the BJP gave it a threatening realization that the saffron party’s gain in the last Lok Sabha election witnessed a significant share of votes drifting from the community. Being a spiritual institution established by the Guru, Sivagiri Madhom is known for its equidistant political stance from all parties. Vellapally Natesan, the President of the SNDP Yogam remains a fishy character as he keeps changing his political line. His son Tushar Vellappalli’s party Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), though electorally insignificant, is a member of the NDA faction in Kerala. Eventually, the Sivagiri speech by the Chief Minister was later justified as an attempt to question the Brahminical element in Sanatana Dharma.

Sanatana Dharma is seen to be an all encompassing philosophy which substantiates life giving and eternally sustainable practices that the world recognizes as the oldest. Sanatana Dharma and Hinduism are seen to be the same, but there are differing views that consider Hinduism as its ritualistic branch. Guru’s social revival was to consolidate the marginalized population of Kerala that, in those days, remained scattered in Travancore, Cochin and Malabar. Swami Vivekananda, while touring the region, likened the dark days of untouchability in Kerala to a lunatic asylum. There had also been community leadership emerging from different castes. All wanted to refine and rebuild the power of its population. Ayyankali was one among those reformers who emerged from the extremely backward communities while Mannathu Padmanabhan worked for the Nairs, known to be an upper caste. The parties opposing Sanatana Dharma have been grievously hiding their double standard. The INDI Alliance headed by the Congress has been demanding a caste census in order to arrive at the stake-holding of each caste. And Narayana Guru remained a principal opponent of caste identification and marginalization. He wanted castes to be abolished. The question is, were Vijayan’s assertions mere political stunts aiming to gain electoral goals or did he really mean to stand by the principles of Narayana Guru?

(Author is freelance journalist and social worker based in Kerala. The views expressed are personal opinion of the author.)