The pilgrimage to Sabarimala is by no means a fun trip. To most people, it is a very serious affair involving great piety. It is a spiritual journey that puts to the test both your physical endurance and willpower. Devotees rigorously follow the prescribed ascetic life believed to be a prerequisite to making the pilgrimage and consider it a great blessing to be able to climb the hill. They patiently wait their turn in 6 or 7-hour long queues to get barely a glimpse of the deity in the sanctum sanctorum. A couple of seconds is all they get and I bet you, the moment they come in front of the deity, they close their eyes.

That my friends, is that inexplicable thing called faith. One of the things the Bard was talking about when he said:
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Although a single trip at the age of ten does not qualify me to talk about the feeling one experiences at the top of that divine hill, I have heard it said that the sense of faith and belief at the sannidhanam is palpable.

It is this faith I see when hundreds of expats, make their annual trips to ‘videshi’ Sabarimalas, like the Shiva Vishnu temple in Maryland which has a shrine dedicated to Ayyappan, observing the mandala vratham, carrying irumudis, and walking barefoot on wooded trails in cold, often snowed in December. They recreate the spirit of the Sabarimala pilgrimage as much as possible on these foreign shores.

It is this faith that brings in lakhs from all over the country and along with them, the crores they contribute in offerings in the hundi and in purchases of unniyappam, (the quality of which I refrain from addressing here. Want to knock down your neighbor’s teeth? Period.), aravana, and other prasadams.

And it is this faith which I feel is unfairly put to the test in the wake of the recent Sabarimala tragedy that claimed more than a hundred lives.

The world over, most governments tread softly around one particular issue - the issue of faith. Because when it comes to faith, it is a matter beyond question, beyond political statements, often beyond rational justifications, and beyond government interference. And that is exactly the stand taken by the ruling government in Kerala, a hard core communist government. They might profess atheism and rationalism as their creed, but they are still in thrall of certain gods that come in various avatars - like vote banks, campaign contributors, lobbyists, kingmakers and power brokers.

Yes, no one wants to rock that particular boat, especially with an election just around the corner. So let us not be fooled into thinking the CM and his comrades have stoutly refused to question faith, out of a genuine concern for the sentiments of the people, when the High Court ordered a probe into the ‘divinity’ of the Makara Vilakku.

Meanwhile, the police department, the forest department, and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TBD) are busy pointing fingers at each other. Whoever is to blame, innocent pilgrims have lost their lives. Cornered, with no other scapegoat in sight, they are questioning the authenticity of the ‘Makara Vilakku’ believed to be a divine phenomenon. Or having pointless discussions about whether the ‘Makara Vilakku’ and the ‘Makara Jyothi’ are the same. This is just a ploy to divert attention from the tragedy that has occurred. The question to be asked is not if the Makara Vilakku is god or man-made, but how the pilgrimage can be made safe.

Sabarimala has always been the bugbear of rationalists. They have raised several issues about the beliefs and customs there from the ‘Makara Jyothi’ issue to young women being kept away from the shrine. I am a woman and have never felt the need to question this issue and I am yet to meet a woman who does. I am sure there are hundreds out there who do. I just haven’t come across any. Personally I think that things should remain just the way they are. The men going up there need their psychological space. Give it to them.

Elsewhere too accidents have happened. A stampede can start off anywhere. It is not confined to religious gatherings. Haven’t people been crushed to death at soccer games and musical concerts? Do soccer games and concerts get banned? Is the fervor of the sports buff and music fan questioned? What authorities usually do is to look into where they have failed in providing proper safety measures and take steps to prevent future mishaps.

But what do people do here? Get into hairsplitting arguments questioning faith. Please do not go there. Faith is a very personal and sensitive issue and the sentiments of people numbering millions cannot just be thrown to the winds. Let a man cherish his faith… as long as it does not urge him to harm another in its name. It is sad to hear several people involved with the temple in various ways play the blame game and finally get to the point of questioning faith. Don’t they realize that the issue here is not that at all?