A senior police officer in Kerala is campaigning to put a stop to a temple ritual in which the bodies of young boys are pierced with iron hooks. In a hard-hitting blog on Tuesday, R Sreelekha, the state’s director general of prisons and correctional services, asked authorities at the Attukal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram district to abolish the ritual of Kuthiyottam, saying that causing physical and mental pain to children is an offence under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Kuthiyottam is an eight-day ritual for boys aged between five and 12 years of age, and held alongside the annual 10-day Pongala festival. Sreelekha wrote that during Kuthiyottam, the boys are made to wear only loin cloths, take cold water dips three times a day, eat measly morsels while squatting on the floor and sleep on the bare temple ground. They are also not allowed to see their parents.

On the ninth day, when the main Pongala celebration takes place, the boys are decked in special garments, garlands and jewellery. Then, the skin next to their rib cage is pierced with an iron hook through which a silver thread is inserted. “They scream,” Sreelekha wrote in her blog. “Blood comes out. A thread will be symbolically knotted through the hooks to symbolise their bond with divinity. Then hooks are pulled out and ash roughly applied on the wounds.”

The Pongala festival this year began on February 22 and Kuthiyottam ceremonies commenced two days later. The body piercing ritual will be held on Friday.

Young boys participate in the Kuthiyottam ritual at the Attukal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram. (Credit: sreelekhaips.blogspot.in)

Attukal Pongala

Pongala in Attukal is one of the biggest temple festivals in Kerala. Attukal Bhagavathi, the goddess, is believed to be an incarnation of Kannaki, the central character of the Tamil epic Silappathikaaram.

On the ninth day of the festival, women assemble on the streets of Thiruvananthapuram city in the hundreds of thousands to cook a pudding of rice, jaggery and coconut in earthen pots as an offering to Attukal Bhagavathi. Before they start cooking, the chief priest of the temple lights their firewood with fire from the shrine’s sanctum sanctorum.

In 2009, the Guinness World Records recognised the Attukal Pongala held that year as the largest gathering of women. Over 25 lakh women had participated then.

Boys take cold water dips during Kuthiyottam. (Credit: sreelekhaips.blogspot.in)

Children in the dark

Sreelekha – the first woman in Kerala to become director general of police – said she is an ardent devotee of Attukal Devi and has been offering Pongala since she was 10 years old. “But I did not know that the boys would be pierced with a hook till last year, when my personal security officer told me about the difficulties faced by his son,” she told Scroll.in.

She added that parents often choose not to tell their children about the pain associated with the ritual, thinking only that “the penance will help their children do well in studies and live as good persons”.

Sreelekha started her campaign against the ritual 11 months ago. “I spoke to several people, including the temple officials, about the need to end this practice,” she said.

A young boy is decked in special clothes, garlands and make-up for the body piercing ritual. (Credit: sreelekhaips.blogspot.in)

‘Devi will punish her’

But the Attukal Bhagawathy temple officials dismissed the police officer’s claims.

“The growing number of children participating in the annual ritual proves her claims are false,” said Shobha, a member of the temple trust. “As many as 993 children from Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been registered for the event this year as against 900 participants last year.”

Accusing Sreelekha of spreading false information for personal gain, Shobha said, “It is suspicious that she chose to raise the allegations as the temple is gearing to celebrate Attukal Pongala on March 2. Devi will punish her for this.”

The temple trust member said children participating in the ritual are given sumptuous food and not morsels. She also claimed the piercing is not painful, saying, “It is just a prick and the wound will be healed soon.”

However, medical professionals disagree. Dr P Muralidharan, who ran a clinic in Manacaud in Thiruvananthapuram for over 30 years, said he had treated many children for infections after the body piercing. “Children are allowed to remove the metal thread 24 hours after its insertion,” he said. “It causes swelling, infection and high fever. Every year I used to treat five to eight children till I stopped consultation.”

The Kuthiyottam ritual lasts eight days. (Credit: sreelekhaips.blogspot.in)

‘Archaic practice’ or ‘absolute joy’?

Muralidharan had filed a complaint against the ritual with the state Human Rights Commission, which in 2014 sought reports from the police and district collector. The police report stated that sterilised metal threads were used for the body piercing, and that the children were accompanied by “a medical team and parents”.

The commission then directed the state government to take an appropriate decision regarding the ritual considering all factors. But Muralidharan said the government of the time did no such thing. And the ritual continues.

“I am planning to meet the Devaswom minister [minister in charge of temple affairs] in the Left Democratic Front government with a request to ban the ritual,” he said.

Lekshmy Rajeev, author of the coffee table book Attukal Amma – The Goddess of Millions and a devotee of the goddess, agreed it was time to end the practice. “One can see the pain on the faces of children during the body piercing,” she said. “It might be paining Attukal Amma too.”

Boys aged between five and 12 participate in Kuthiyottam. (Credit: sreelekhaips.blogspot.in)

But not everyone is in agreement with the views of Sreelekha, Muralidharan and Rajeev.

Bipin RR, who participated in the ritual as a young boy, called it a period of absolute joy. Many others asked Sreelekha to criticise the torture of children in other religions too.

But an unfazed Sreelekha said she would continue her fight against Kuthiyottam. “A civilised society should not allow such an archaic practice,” she said.

In protest, she has decided not to offer Pongala on Friday. “I have been offering Pongala from the age of 10 but I am keeping off it this time unless there is a divine intervention to stop torturing children.”