A Cult-Site at a Contested Western Ghats Landscape Ecosystem: Claims of Tribes, Castes, and Gender
Published: 31 October 2023
A Cult-Site at a Contested Western Ghats Landscape Ecosystem: Claims of Tribes, Castes, and Gender
Date: Tuesday 10 October 2023
Location: 4 University Gardens, Room 203
Time: 16:00-17:30
Speaker: Rajan Gurukkal, Vice Chancellor Kerala State Higher Education Council
Abstract:
This discussion is about a contested landscape ecosystem of the Western Ghats and a shrine Sabarimala situated there, which used to be visited in olden days by tribal people like Malampanṭāram, Uḷḷāṭar, Mannān, Narikkuṛavar and a few low-caste people settled along the fringes, besides some pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, only annually during the Makara Sankramaṇa (January-February). This tradition continued till recent times. Setting aside the tribal heritage, the male members of the mainland castes have monopolised it as a place of their own pilgrimage. These groups’ onrush in huge numbers have turned a small shrine into a large complex managed by state-controlled bodies. Today pilgrims from all over the country pour annually to the shrine and deep into the forest upsetting the ecosystem. An enclave in the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), an ecological hot spot on the world map of biodiversity and part of the reserve owned and controlled by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is facing a lot of problems due to the eventual violation of environmental regulations. The tiger is central to the devotional practices as the vehicle of the deity of Sabarimala. Pilgrims have been viewing tigers in the forest as symbolic of the God’s presence. Additionally, the pilgrimage site is the niche of a female tiger forced to go on exile every year and to reclaim it. Interestingly, women forbidden from entering the shrine on the basis of purity norms have challenged the status quo by invoking constitutionally ordained fundamental rights and a verdict of the Super Court. I will discuss the anthropological, historical, and ecological aspects of Sabarimala site vis-à-vis religious ideas.
Speaker’s bio:
Rajan Gurukkal is a social historian and the Vice Chancellor of the Kerala State Higher Education Council. He has published numerous articles and several books on South Indian history in English and Malayalam. Among his publications are Rethinking Classical Indo-Roman Trade: Political Economy of Eastern Mediterranean Exchange Relations (OUP 2016) and History and Theory of Knowledge Production: An Introductory Outline (OUP 2019). He has worked on several research projects on the socioecological fragile systems of the Western Ghats and the Periyar Tiger Reserve under the auspices of the World Bank (2002–2004).
First published: 31 October 2023