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Showing posts from July 13, 2007


Hindu Temples and the Kerala State Government

Who should manage the Hindu temples in Kerala? The State government or the devotees. This is an ongoing debate in Kerala. The debate gained momentum recently with the present Communist government in Kerala bringing ordinances to take over the administration of various temples in Kerala. The latest being the Malabar Devaswom Ordinance to take over the temples in Malabar. The Hindu population in Kerala is just over fifty percent. The rest of the nearly fifty percent consists of Muslims and Christians. The Hindus in Kerala are a divided lot and are mainly represented by caste based organizations like the Nair Service Society (NSS), Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) and numerous other such organizations. It must also be noted here that the Communist parties in Kerala finds its support base mainly among the Hindus. The temples in Kerala are mainly administrated by the Travancore Devaswom Board, Cochin Devaswom Board and Guruvayur Devaswom Board. Recently, the government took