Travancore Devaswom Board plans godly lessons

Kochi: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will set up religious study centres in all temples under it within a year so as to attract more people to the “path of faith,” the board president Prayar Gopalakrishnan said on Monday. “Currently such centres are functional in about 200 temples. We will co-ordinate and streamline their functioning.

In the rest of the temples, such centres will be started in a phased manner. The aim is to attract maximum people to the religious faiths and beliefs,” Mr Gopalakrishnan told DC. There are 1,248 temples under the control of the board. It’s compulsory for children or grandchildren of members of temple advisory committees to attend the classes, he said. However, the financial implication for the initiative would be kept at a minimum.

“The centres will be opened within existing facilities of the temples or carrying out simple alterations,” he said. The centres will have facilities such as computers, DTP and multi-media projector, among others. "Basically the classes will be on the core values and principles based on traditional epics such as 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharatha'. Meanwhile, the president said the board sticks to its stand on the issue of entry of women of all ages in Sabarimala despite the RSS favouring a change in traditional practice.

"The board is not ready to accept any decision that seeks to change the centuries old traditions and customs. We've already made it clear that the board is firm on no entry to women between 10 and 50 years of age in Sabarimala," he said. Mr Gopalakrishnan said he would openly react against any decision of the state government going against the "Hindu religion" even at the cost of the TDB president's post.