Kerala: Dancer denied nod to perform at Koodalmanikyam Temple

THRISSUR: Dancer Mansiya Shyam Kalyan has complained that she has been barred from performing Bharathanatyam as part of the annual festival at the Koodalmanikyam Temple citing that she was not a Hindu.
The temple authorities had charted her dance on April 21, in the programme brochure released to the public. Probably, the temple authorities had assumed that she was a Hindu seeing her surname as Shyam Kalyan.Her husband Shyam Kalyan is a violinist.
"It was only later they informed me that I cannot perform because I was not a Hindu," Mansiya said in a social media post.
"There was also a question whether I had converted into Hinduism. I don't have any religious affiliations, then how do I convert to a religion," said the post.
"It seems that the criteria for granting a platform for artists is their religion and not their talent. This is a long-pending premise, which should be revisited at the earliest. I was denied permission to perform at Guruvayur temple also earlier on religious grounds," Mansiya told TOI.
However, the temple authorities clarified that the programmes were being held within the temple compound and as per the existing rules, only Hindus could be allowed to perform there.
According to Koodalmanikyam devaswom president Pradeep Menon, the expert committee of the devaswom initially approved Mansiya's application because her application had not stated that she was not a Hindu. "This was known only during the stage of signing of MoU between the devaswom and artist. When Mansiya made it clear that she did not believe in Hinduism, we decided to deny permission for her to perform in the temple compound," Pradeep said.
In that case, the devaswom should have initiated the MoU signing earlier, rather than after printing the programme notice and informing the whole world that we have been invited to perform, Mansiya said.
Interestingly, BJP Irinjalakuda mandalam secretary and municipality councillor T K Shaju has come out in the open against the decision of the devaswom. "This has challenged the secular principles of the Constitution," he said in a social media post.
Meanwhile, dancer Soumya Sukumaran of Kalanjali in Thiruvananthapuram said she also had a similar experience. Soumya was chosen for a Bharatanatyam performance at the Koodalmanikyam temple, initially.
"My programme was also slated to be held on April 21. But when they realized that I'm a Christian, they backtracked. Luckily my programme was not printed in the programme brochure, because they came to know about my Christian identity in advance. It was painful to be deprived of the opportunity to perform, after preparing for long," Soumya said.