After two dancers were denied permission to perform at the Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam Temple in Kerala citing their religion, three classical dancers have backed out from performing in the temple festival. The dancers — Devika Sajeevan, Anju Aravind and Karthik Manikandan — have pulled themselves out to express their solidarity with the two artistes.
On March 27, Mansiya VP, who is a PhD holder in Bharatanatyam, was informed that her performance — which was scheduled to be held on April 21 and was already noted down — was being cancelled as she is a non-Hindu. Mansiya was born into a Muslim family and is now an atheist. Similarly, another dancer Soumya Sukumaran, who was born into a Hindu family but later converted to Christianity, was also not allowed to perform due to her religion.
According to reports, nearly 800 artists are scheduled to perform during the 10-day-long annual festival at the temple. The temple authority has said that only Hindus would be allowed to perform, and that this was made clear even before applications opened up. The temple committee on March 29, said that all artistic performances can be conducted in the temple only if they align with its “practices and traditions”. In an explanation shared by Pradeep Menon, Chairman, Koodalmanikyam Devaswom, he said that around 800 experts of different art forms take part in the temple’s annual festival, which typically begins in the third week of April. But, Pradeep added, as per the temple’s traditions, all the artists performing there must be Hindu.
Anju Aravind, one of the classical dancers who withdrew from performing, on Thursday, March 31, said that she has “boycotted the opportunity”. In a social media post, she said, “As an artist, because of the full realization I have that art has no caste or religion, it is not possible for me to perform my art on that stage after writing and agreeing that I am a 'Hindu'”.
She also stated that Mansiya’s programme was cancelled even after all the processes were in place, including receiving her application and printing her photos. But it was called off at the last moment just because she was not a religious believer.
In a similar stance, dancer Karthik Manikandan, who was scheduled to perform on April 17, has also taken to social media to “express solidarity with the artists who had been sidelined from the Koodalmanikyam dance and music fest.”
In his post, he wrote, “I am backing out from my performance that is supposed to happen on April 17th. Also, after selecting prominent artists, they have also denied them opportunity to perform for their own reasons. So what is the value of us artists here?”, he asked.
Another dancer Devika Sajeevan, has also said that she will not be performing at the event. “As I feel the need to stand with fellow artistes who faced unfortunate incidents,I choose to refrain from doing this performance at Koodalmanikyam dance festival scheduled to be held on 24-04-22,” Sajeevan had said on Facebook.