No more fake priests during Vavubali?

Thiruvananthapuram: It is likely that this year as well there will be bogus priests during ‘Vavubali’ to be held at the Shanghumughom and Thiruvallom temples on August 11. Every year there will be complaints from devotees about priests who take money, but they would have to make up the ‘mantra’.

Even as the district administration has said that such priests will be controlled, both the police and the Travancore Devaswom Board authorities don’t have any mechanism in place to enforce their plans.

TDB officials said that they do not have the power to stop fake priests from duping the public. “TDB is an autonomous body. It is for the government to do something,” one official said. A police official said, “if TDB gives us a list of priests, we can weed the others out.”

But TDB officials say that they won’t be able to give out a list. They demarcate spaces, where their priests would be sitting.

Last year, not even a single case had been charged at Shanghumughom police station. Officials there confirmed that the temple had approached the station to bring it to the notice of the authorities. However, they had not submitted a written complaint, according to officials.

Quite a lot of fake priests come to Shanghumughom as there will be a sea of devotees and the priests can find a convenient space to sit unnoticed by the authorities. This year the entry to Shanghumughom will be restricted as a major portion of the beach has been eaten up by the waves. Only about a 20-metre stretch of the beach will be used for the ‘Vavubali’ rituals.

At Thiruvallom, the fake priests go to unmonitored ghats. The police said that if they find any fake priests, they will ask them to leave. The district administration has said that there will be stringent measures to control fake priests.