Chandanakudam festival: Communal thoughts take sheen off fest of harmony

Kottayam: Though the exact period about when the observance of the Chandanakudam festival began cannot be traced, the ritual is being practiced for many centuries in different parts of the state including at Erumely.

However, it lacks the lustre of the desired communal amity it elicited in the past due to various factors, observe historians.

Eminent historian and the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala state higher education council, Dr Rajan Gurukkal observes that due to the increasing communal consciousness in society, the observances of similar festivals did not have the effectiveness it previously had.

Dr Gurukkal traces back the beginning of the observance such festivals especially in India to the beginning of the13th century.

“Though the festival lost its previous lustre, in places where the local communities have been residing for a long time, festivals similar to this have some kind of effectiveness in containing communal tensions. However, because of the increasing consciousness of religion, these festivals have lost traditional fervor and effectiveness,” Dr Gurukkal told DC.

He said that the festival was mostly observed in the southern parts of the state and similar rituals attained the nature of cultural symbiosis.He said that similar festivals lost relevance ever since the advent of the colonial period which was the breeding place for the origin of such instincts.

He said that at Chandanakudam festival there was an intermingling of Hindu rituals and Islamic tradition.

Travancore Devaswom Board ( TDB) President A Padmakumar said that the festival was peculiar for the message of human fraternity and communal harmony it extended to society.