Protesting Koodalmanikyam incident, SNDP members pray in shirts at temple

A GROUP of devotees led by the SNDP joint committee had darshan wearing shirts at the Kakkattu Koikkal Sree Dharma Sastha temple in Perunad in Pathananthitta on Sunday, defying the custom of the shrine.

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The joint committee members said the act was a protest against the incident at the Koodalmanikyam temple in Irinjalakuda, where the temple priest had decided to stay away from rituals in protest against the appointment of a man belonging to a 'lower' caste as a kazhakam, a staffer assigned to make floral garments for the deity and to oversee preparations for rituals.