Author: P.D.T. Achary
Publication: The Hindu
Date: January 30, 2011
URL: http://www.hindu.com/op/2011/01/30/stories/2011013054641400.htm
The tragedy that struck Sabarimala pilgrims
on Makarasankranti claiming 102 innocent lives, is horrendous in magnitude.
The pilgrims returning after a fulfilling darshan of the jyoti could never
have thought that death was awaiting them on the hillslopes. But any perceptive
observer who visits Sabarimala during the festival season beginning in mid-November
and concluding on the day of Sankranti, would be able to say that this was
a tragedy waiting to happen.
No official or unofficial records are available
to show when pilgrimage to Sabarimala started. It always remains a mystery
how a temple came to be built in this most difficult terrain infested with
wild animals. There is no human habitation anywhere near it. In the 1950s
and earlier, a pilgrim had to walk barefoot 65 km through dense forest and
trek seven steep hills to reach Sabarimala. He was always in danger of being
attacked by wild animals. So, the pilgrims moved in large groups and in the
night they would camp in the midst of a dense forest and build huge fires,
fire crackers and beat drums to scare away animals.
Trekking through a thorny and stony forest
track and climbing steep hills involving physical suffering is associated
with the Sabarimala pilgrimage. The pilgrims chant, "thorns and sharp
stones are like pads on our feet." The mystic and rarefied experience
of Sabarimala cannot be understood by an observer unless he goes through it.
The collective chants, "Swamiye Saranamayyappa," coming from millions
of pilgrims, send powerful vibrations all around the hills which are called
the "magnetic hills." Interestingly, the deity is called "Kantamala
Jyoti," meaning the sacred light of the magnetic hills. No wonder, Sabarimala,
which is said to be a powerful energy field, attracts tens of millions of
devotees. No other religious centre in the country is visited by such a large
number of pilgrims during one season lasting for just over two months.
The unprecedented surge in the number of devotees
year after year has created enormous problems in regard to infrastructure,
crowd management, provision of basic facilities, maintaining hygiene, traffic
movement and related issues.
It is universally accepted that the Travancore
Devaswom Board, which manages the temple, is not able to fully meet the ever-growing
needs of the pilgrimage. Non-availability of enough land is only one problem.
Land is not made available for expanding the infrastructure because Sabarimala's
ecology is fragile and large-scale construction activities will irreparably
damage it. Moreover, it is part of the Periyar Tiger Sanctuary and therefore
there are serious constraints on development activities near the shrine.
Years ago, this writer took a daring step
by taking the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament headed by Sardar Buta
Singh to Sabarimala, that too on the day of Makarasankranti, when the crowd
is at its peak. After surveying the scene, where millions of devotees were
sleeping on the open ground next to one another in the night, Mr. Singh said
he had never seen anything of this nature in his life. He said he couldn't
imagine that people could endure hardships with such peace and sense of fulfilment.
He promised to do everything possible to bring about minimum development in
Sabarimala. Incidentally, this was the first time a Parliamentary Committee
ever visited the shrine.
Sabarimala, visited by crores of pilgrims,
lacks basic amenities. Devotees standing in the queue for 15-20 hours for
darshan do not have facilities for even answering the call of nature. It is
humanly impossible for people to keep standing for such a long time without
food or water and a place to sit or stretch their weary limbs. Pilgrims include
old men and women and children. Certain minimum arrangements can be made to
help them.
Temporary hutments with thatched roof can
be put up along the route to provide them clean drinking water and eatables.
Chairs or benches can be provided in these hutments for them to rest a while
after hours of standing. Makeshift lavatories can be installed behind these
hutments. Once the season is over, these hutments can be dismantled easily.
These arrangements will not disturb the forest or ecology, but will be of
immense help to the pilgrims.
Different routes
A major problem is controlling the flow of
devotees who take different traditional and non-traditional routes. The tragedy
took place at Pulmedu, which is one such route. The media have reported that
there were just three or four policemen and the number of pilgrims who converged
at this place when the tragedy struck was over two lakh. The surge cannot
be stopped, but regulation of the inflow and movement should be possible.
Reports about the absence of any kind of facility to save human lives in an
emergency like this are in a way not surprising, given the general attitude
towards the Sabarimala pilgrimage. Since suffering is thought to be part of
the pilgrimage, it suits us to ignore the basic requirements of a pilgrim
centre.
The PAC under Buta Singh recommended that
a master plan be prepared for scientific development of Sabarimala without
in any way damaging ecology. In pursuance of that idea, an expert body was
set up to study the problems and suggest short-term and long-term remedies.
The PAC visit generated some momentum which, however, does not seem to have
been sustained.
The Travancore Devaswom Board is doing whatever
it can. But it is set in its traditional ways and, because of its structure
and outlook and the peculiar politics of Kerala, it seems unable to internalise
the urgency and the need to manage problems using modern and scientific methods.
What is required is urgent implementation
of the master plan. Individual initiatives have been taken from time to time
to improve things. For example, Mr. Jayakumar, Additional Chief Secretary
of Kerala and well-meaning and competent officer, took steps to make the trek
a little less painful and risky and maintain hygiene in and around the temple.
In fact, after the visit of the PAC, a number of meetings with officials of
the Central and State governments were held and an expert committee was set
up. But no one knows what happened thereafter. The unseemly sight of pilgrims
being roughly and mercilessly pushed in front of the sanctum sanctorum by
policemen preventing them from catching even a fleeting glimpse of the deity
encapsulates the problems of Sabarimala. The devotees of Lord Ayyappa never
protest; they endure all kinds of hardships. This is the assumption on which
Sabarimala has been managed always.
- (The writer is a former Secretary-General
of the Lok Sabha)