'Shocked': Shashi Tharoor on Bharatanatyam dancer being denied permission to perform at Kerala temple

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday expressed shock at a Bharatanatyam dancer denied permission to perform in a Kerala temple. He said some restrictions about access to sanctum santorum are understandable but it's shocking to see dancers not being allowed in temple premises

"I understand some restrictions in some temples about access to sanctum santorum. But this is a dance performance with other dancers in temple premises. Shocked that the temple is not allowing this", he said while talking to reporters.

Popular Bharatnatyam artiste V P Mansiya has alleged that she has been barred from performing in a scheduled dance programme in April at the Koodalmanikyam temple in Kerala’s Thrissur district because she is a non-Hindu.

In her Facebook post, Mansiya said her dance programme was slated to be held at the Koodalmanikyam Temple in Thrissur district on April 21. Mansiya, a PhD research scholar in Bharatanatyam, had earlier faced the ire and boycott of Islamic clerics for being a performing artiste of classical dance forms despite being born and brought up as a Muslim.

Meanwhile, Koodalmanikyam Devaswom board chairman Pradeep Menon said that as per the tradition of the temple, only Hindus can perform within the compound of the temple.

This is the second such instance being reported from Kerala. Earlier, in a similar pattern, temple administration in North Malabar banned a Poorakkali artist from performing in temples allegedly over his son marrying a Muslim woman.

The authorities in both cases maintain that they cannot break the temple rituals.