Ezhava The Ezhavas () are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. They are also known as ''Ilhava'' ...

is a caste in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

is a

Hindu god Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati. The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...

. Siva idol was consecrated by social reformer

Sree Narayana Guru Narayana Guru, , (20 August 1856 – 20 September 1928) was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India. He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual ...

Aruvippuram Aruvippuram is a village in the southern district of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India. It is famous for the Siva temple established by Sri Narayana Guru. The Guru consecrated the Siva idol, the first non brahmin to do so in Kerala society, i ...

, in 1888. Ezhava Siva refers not to Siva as God but to the tongue-in-cheek reply given by Sree Narayana Guru when questioned by a group of Brahmins about the legitimacy of a non

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

consecrating a temple. This was a major break from tradition as installation of idols by non Brahmins was considered blasphemy and

belonged to the lower caste

community. The sarcasm was meant to highlight the immorality of Brahmins who denied social spaces and the right to worship from the lower castes. Sree Narayana Guru, well learned in the Hindu scriptures, always considered God as a power without limits and boundaries but who bestows benevolence on all, irrespective of caste. This is evident in the Universal Prayer in Malayalam, Daivadasakam (10 Verses To God) he had written for the masses. After the Aruvippuram Temple Consecration, he wrote in Malayalam:

Consecration

Until the early 20th century,

Ezhavas The Ezhavas () are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. They are also known as ''Ilhava ...

and other lower castes were not allowed inside

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

temples. During Sree Narayana Guru's wandering life he came upon

in 1888. He decided to build a place of worship open to all castes. He picked up a stone from near by

Neyyar river The Neyyar River is 56 km long river which flows through the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala in India. It flows from the Agastya Mala (''Agastyarkoodam'') in the Western Ghats. The town Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district, is s ...

and used it as an idol for the proposed temple and consecrated it. This act challenged Brahmin hegemony. When Brahmin priests questioned his right to do so, he replied famously that what he installed was an "Ezhava Siva". He further asked whether the universal power belonged to any caste. He set up other temples at Aluva, Vypin, Cherai and Moothakunnam.

Legacy

Narayana Guru's actions are widely acknowledged to have paved way for later movements by lower castes for temple entry, including the ‘

Vaikom Satyagraha Vaikom Satyagraha, from 30 March 1924 to 23 November 1925, was a Nonviolence, nonviolent agitation for access to the prohibited public environs of the Vaikom Sree Mahadeva Temple, Vaikom Temple in the Travancore, Kingdom of Travancore. Kingdom o ...

’. 125th Anniversary of Aruvippuram installation was celebrated in 2013.

Consecration

Legacy

References

See also