THE TEMPLE RAIDERS

The row over missing gold in Sabarimala raises questions about the role of the CPI(M) and the state government's responsibility in safeguarding temple assets

- NIRMAL JOVIAL

EIGHT YEARS AGO, during the mandala season—the main pilgrimage period when the Sabarimala temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa opens for worship—Unnikrishnan Potty arrived at the shrine as an assistant to the keezh shanthi (sub-priest). Son of a temple priest, Potty hailed from Pulimath near Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The job that brought him to Sabarimala helped him carve out a niche for himself as the go-to man for arranging special privileges for the temple’s affluent patrons. Offerings and contributions from devotees outside Kerala allegedly began to flow through him. By July 2019, he had become a high-profile “sponsor” in a dubious deal—approved by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the autonomous body managing 1,252 temples including Sabarimala—to “fix” gold-cladded copper coverings on the Dwarapalaka idols at the entrance to the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

The TDB manual stipulates that all repair work on the Dwarapalakas and the pedestals on which they are placed be carried out at the Sannidhanam, the main temple complex. But in this case, the items were dispatched to Chennai.

On September 7 this year, the TDB once again handed over the coverings to Potty for another round of “repairs”. This time, however, things took a different turn. On September 9, R. Jayakrishnan, the Kerala High Court-appointed special commissioner to Sabarimala, submitted a report saying the gold-plated coverings on the Dwarapalaka idols had been removed without obtaining court approval. This violated the High Court's November 2023 order barring the TDB from sending valuable items out of the Sannidhanam without judicial permission.