PTI

Guruvayur, Jun 13: Seeking to put a lid on the purification row, the managing committee of the Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple on Wednesday expressed deep regret for conducting a purification rite after Union Minister Vayalar Ravi's son Ravikrishna visited the temple last month.

The committee also decided to recommend to the government to amend the Guruvayur Devaswom Act for removal of the clause which empowered the thanthri (traditional high priest) as the supreme authority of religious matters.

Briefing reporters on the deliberations of the two-day meeting of the committee, its chairman Thottathil Raveendran said Ravikrishna would be informed of its decision.

The punyaham (sprinkling of consecrated water) was conducted on May 19 as Ravi Krishna's mother was a Christian and was not supposed to worship at the shrine where non-Hindus are not permitted.

Last month, Ravikrishna had written to the managing committee recording his strong protest at the conduct of punyaham after his visit to the temple for the first-feeding ( choroonu ) of his son.

The managing committee had earlier issued a memorandum to the thanthri and the temple manager seeking their explanation on the issue. In their reply, they said that a similar punyaham was conducted when Ravikrishna visited the temple seven years back.

The committee, however, was of the view that this was regrettable as Ravikrishna was a Hindu. One of the permanent members of the nine-member body, P K S Raja of Zamorin Royal House, told the meeting that Ravikrishna was a Hindu since he was not baptised as a Christian.

On the larger question of allowing all believers into the temple, the committee wanted the government to consider amendment to the Guruvayur Devaswom Act, 1978 as per which the " tanthri is to be the supreme authority on religious matters."

This clause had to be removed to ensure that no particular person was the supreme authority on temple matters forever.

Asked as to why the thanthri himself did not attend the meeting, Raveendran said he did not turn up to avoid "unnecessary controversies" over the issue.

The committee also decided to conduct a devaprasnam (astrological examination of the temple affairs) but it had nothing to do with the purification issue.

The devaprasnam was conducted every 12 years and now it was due, he added.