Pilgrims inside a Tiger Reserve-The Sorimuthu Iyyanar Temple experience
By Allwin Jesudasan & Rajkamal Goswami
An edited version of this article appears in the print edition of Down To Earth, July 15, 2013
An edited version of this article appears in the print edition of Down To Earth, July 15, 2013
“Varsham
muluka naa TV paathutu beedi suthitte irrupen. Varshathulle inthe oru vaaram
oru kavalai illaame na inge thanguven.” (All year I sit in front of the TV, rolling
beedis. In the one week that I spend here, I just relax and
enjoy my stay here without worrying about anything else in the world) remarked
a middle-aged woman ‘pilgrim’ from a small hamlet of Alangulam Taluk of
Tirunelveli District of Southern Tamil Nadu.
She was replying to our query as to why she came to visit the the
Sorimuthu Iyyanar Temple inside the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR)
during the annual Adi-amavasya festival. We had asked this question because to
us, it was difficult to understand the motivations that drove hundreds of
thousands of people to travel and camp inside forests. During this festival a
large area of the forest around the temple gets invaded by thousands of
tarpaulin tents and a huge slum-like atmosphere replaces the otherwise ‘clean
and green’ forest. To us, ‘religious faith’ as the sole motif binding all the
visitors to this part of KMTR together during the festival seemed too simple to
be true. Additionally we, being part of a larger team of mostly biologists,
were also interested in understanding the various impacts that such large
congregation can have on the fragile ‘dry evergreen’ forest ecosystem within
which the festivities were localized. The temple premise currently covers about
21.3 hectares and lies by the banks of Karayar,
a tributary of the Tamirabarani River
which is a critical source of water for the densely populated downstream
districts of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi. Karayar and many other streams originate
in KMTR, a 895 sq km Protected Area, and is popularly known as the ‘water
sanctuary’. It is also home to many
endangered species and is the southernmost habitat of the Bengal Tiger.
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| The Sorimuthu Iyyanar Temple, two days prior to the Adi-Amavasai festival. |
Every year, on the new moon day in the Tamil
Month of ‘Adi’ (mid-July to mid-August), the ‘Adi-Ammavasai’ festival is celebrated
in this temple. Pilgrim camps and the festivities persist for about eleven
days. Over the years, the number of pilgrims visiting the temple has been
increasing steadily, and so has also the temporary encroachment of forest land
by the pilgrims. Given the inadequacy of temporary toilets most of the pilgrims
preferred relieving themselves in the forest and on sloping rocks not far away
from the camping area where bleaching powder is repeatedly spewed to negate the smell and spread of disease. Subsequent rains
washes the chemicals and human excreta into the river. The use of chemicals by
pilgrims during bathing/washing, polythene, garbage, human excreta all together
add to the pollution of Tamirabarani. Additionally, slaughter waste resulting
from the sacrifice of thousands of animals ranging from sheep to goats to hens also
directly flow in the river.
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| A view of the camping site. |
“Ivenge
oru vaaram sondosamaa thangittu povaange. naange aaru maasam kashte paduvvom (they
stay here happy for a week, we struggle for six months) rued Ramesh, a Kani tribal who lives in the
Agasthymalai Kani Kudiirruppu, a small tribal village few metres downstream
from the temple. The Kanis originally lived deep inside the forest and were
resettled to their current settlement. Their tolerance to pollution is low and
they struggle for clean water for months because the quantum of waste that
drains in the river directly and indirectly, takes months to revert to its
earlier state of purity. Most Kanis are unhappy with the way the festival is
celebrated as Tamirabarani is the only source of water they depend on for their
domestic use and it becomes very difficult for them to survive because of
widespread outbreak of dysentery, skin rashes, food poisoning, etc. For some
Kanis however, the festival is an opportunity to earn some cash, otherwise hard
to come by, through setting up small shops. Numerous petty traders from the
plains join the Kanis and sell articles like bangles snacks and toys while
others sell services such as soothsaying and tattoos. Rights to set up big
shops are however auctioned by the temple authorities, the beneficiaries of
which usually are larger businessmen from bigger towns. To get a perspective
on the economic turnover, we estimated that the camping pilgrims alone spent over
a crore in 2010. This figure may rise 2-3 times if we include the number of visitors
who return without camping.
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| The increasing number of vehicles entering the forest each year is a concern for wildlife conservation. |
Like most festivities, this one too has its
share of booze and waste. In two days of frisking in 2009, over 350 KG of
polythene and over 450 litres of liquor were confiscated. Collections from our
post-festival clean up drives however suggest that the many times more of what
is confiscated gets smuggled inside despite the gargantuan measures of the
local police, the Forest Department and local NGOs.
Apart from the above, the large mobilization
of visitors during over 2 weeks results in numerous negative impacts on the natural
environment of KMTR. A gist is provided in the box below.
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When we started our engagement with this particular festival, we stood on a very clear and unambiguous moral high-ground which had led us to assume that although religious the fallout of such gathering should be opposed since the temple was situated inside a sanctuary reserved for the tigers and their habitat. It was from that high ‘perch’ that all our ways of looking at the problem were devised as were the numerous assumptions we held within us. But we were fortunate to be a part of a campaign and team which always strove to gain a more rounded perspective, as such issues which involved a high human stake deserves.
Over the years we have thus realized that while religion might not be the sole motive, yet for many a deep religious sentiment is what brings them here, year after year. Some pilgrims walk for over 50 km to the temple carrying a hereditary spear to seek the blessings of Lord Sorimuthu Iyyanar for their families. After the festival, the spear called ‘Valayam’, is kept in their village temple until the next year’s visit. Another event that has been a tradition is a ritualistic performance by descendents of warriors in front of the former Zamindar in a customary durbar. One of these performers told us that once when he did not perform at the festival, he lost someone in his family. Since then he hasn’t missed performing at the festival even for a single year.
Although popular for its Hindu deity, we found that the festival had a pan-religious appeal with many non-Hindus joining in the celebrations. Even among many Hindu visitors too, the ‘darshan’ of the main deity wasn’t paramount. Over 76 % of the people that we interviewed said that they take part in other recreational activities like going on a boat ride in the dam reservoir during their camping days. We realized that for many low income families of the hot dry-land villages bordering KMTR, a visit to the festival is a cheap and viable alternative to the expensive cooler hill stations of Ooty or Kodaikanal. The festival is important for many of the visitors as this is the only time that they get to be away from their mundane daily life. It also provides an exciting freedom for many young girls and boys. During an interview one young girl, while sitting next to her mom, told us that during the festival restrictions to talk and mingle with young boys is nil which is in stark contrast to their humdrum days of village-life. Unsurprisingly, many weddings and matches are formalized and finalized during the festival.
Over the years we have thus realized that while religion might not be the sole motive, yet for many a deep religious sentiment is what brings them here, year after year. Some pilgrims walk for over 50 km to the temple carrying a hereditary spear to seek the blessings of Lord Sorimuthu Iyyanar for their families. After the festival, the spear called ‘Valayam’, is kept in their village temple until the next year’s visit. Another event that has been a tradition is a ritualistic performance by descendents of warriors in front of the former Zamindar in a customary durbar. One of these performers told us that once when he did not perform at the festival, he lost someone in his family. Since then he hasn’t missed performing at the festival even for a single year.
Although popular for its Hindu deity, we found that the festival had a pan-religious appeal with many non-Hindus joining in the celebrations. Even among many Hindu visitors too, the ‘darshan’ of the main deity wasn’t paramount. Over 76 % of the people that we interviewed said that they take part in other recreational activities like going on a boat ride in the dam reservoir during their camping days. We realized that for many low income families of the hot dry-land villages bordering KMTR, a visit to the festival is a cheap and viable alternative to the expensive cooler hill stations of Ooty or Kodaikanal. The festival is important for many of the visitors as this is the only time that they get to be away from their mundane daily life. It also provides an exciting freedom for many young girls and boys. During an interview one young girl, while sitting next to her mom, told us that during the festival restrictions to talk and mingle with young boys is nil which is in stark contrast to their humdrum days of village-life. Unsurprisingly, many weddings and matches are formalized and finalized during the festival.
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| Some pilgrims walk from their village to the festival carrying a ‘Vallayam’ |
Notwithstanding the diversely colorful
details of the festivals and the inherent sentiments that they hold for
numerous actors, the inherent adverse impact of the gathering and other such gatherings
on the natural environment and ecosystem cannot and shouldn’t be discounted.
The heartening fact is that the ‘local’ civil society has gathered together to
address such concerns. In 2010, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court
passed an order asking the Forest Department to ensure that no one camps beyond
the Temple premises in the designated ‘forest’ area. Despite the order, the
camping and clearing of forest continued, perhaps because it was an issue too
sensitive and sentimental to be tackled by the Department alone. Any action
deemed has to be taken up jointly by all stakeholders such as the Temple
authorities, Forest Department, District administration, the pilgrims and the civil
society.
The environmental damage caused due to large
pilgrimages in India is a serious issue and our empirical evidence of the
annual environmental and ecological damage caused due to the pilgrimage of the
Sorimuthu Iyyanar temple at KMTR represents only the tip of the iceberg.
Examples are abounding from India viz. Sabarimala in Periyar Tiger Reserve,
Belladukuppai in Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Ganesh temple inside Ranthambore.
However, our KMTR experience shows that it might be presumptuous to view
‘Religious Pilgrimages’ in or beyond forest areas as solely ‘religious’ as well
as ‘pilgrimages’. At such large scales it represents a far deeper and
complicated fabric than what has been popularly perceived and portrayed. And
since our responses to problems tend to be devised by our perceptions of them,
we urgently need to refine and enrich our engagement with not only our last
remaining abodes of biodiversity but also the sacred ones.
Allwin
Jesudasan & Rajkamal Goswami are with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology
and the Environment, Bangalore, India
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