The first day of the three-day annual ritual of Madae Snana was held as usual at the Kukke Subramanya temple near Mangalore, even as anti-sentiments on holding the ritual raged outside.
While the practice—which involves rolling over leftovers of the lunch served to brahmins—has drawn a lot of flak from all quarters, especially from reformist activist groups, the temple authorities remained non-committal.
They said it was not an activity of the temple and devotees practice it on their own accord, adding that the temple cannot do anything to stop the practice.
R Mahadevappa, an activist of Hindulida Vargagala Jagurta Balaga, said: “The temple is tacitly supporting this evil practice by allowing devotees to participate in it. We appealed to the swamiji and to the state muzrai minister to stop it. But, our requests fell on deaf ears, and now we will appeal to the state and national human rights commissions.”
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) of Karnataka has taken a serious note of the practice. “How can anyone be allowed to roll on heaps of leftovers even on their own accord! Will they allow it if somebody volunteered to carry human excreta in public!” argued Patrick D’Sa, state president of PUCL. “It is a brazen violation of human rights.”
One of the temple authorities counter-argued: “It is a religious practice that the devotees take up on their own. The temple does not organise the event, it just organises the annual lunch for regular devotees.”
Gopinath, a devotee from Mysore, who is also part of the legal fraternity, said: “The right to religious practices is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in Constitution. How can a religious practice of one community be termed as unconstitutional by a class of people! The Constitution of India provides for freedom and right to practice any religion. In this case, devotees take up Madae Snana on their own accord and if we stop it legally, the state will be a party to violation of the constitutional rights of lakhs of devotees.” Gopinath and his family were among the participants in the ritual on Friday.
A volunteer at the event, Anni Malekudia, said devotees who undertake Madae Snana included people from even upper Hindu castes like brahmins.
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