Bengaluru: Noted poet Prabha Varma, who is also Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s media secretary, is embroiled in a controversy after the Kerala High Court stayed a decision to award the prestigious Poonthanam Njanappana award to him.
The award is conferred by the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board, which manages the Guruvayoor temple, and is instituted in the name of the 16th century Malayalam poet Poonthanam Namboothiri, who is known for his verse on Krishna.
A group of Hindu organisations had moved the court stating that Varma’s award-winning novel, Shyama Madhavam, hurt their religious sentiments as it allegedly ‘ridicules Lord Krishna’.
On Thursday, the Kerala High Court stayed the handing over of the award after considering three petitions, including one filed by Thrissur-based Haindaveeyam, a hardcore right-wing organisation.
A division bench comprising Justices C.T. Ravikumar and N. Nagaresh issued the interim order stating the court was “not making any consideration or comments on the creative value of the said piece of literature”, but felt that the award “would hurt the feelings of the devotees”.
The court further questioned if Varma’s work depicting Lord Krishna should be granted the award using the contributions of devotees.
Spread across 15 chapters, Shyama Madhavam is a novel in verse on Krishna, with Varma portraying him as a man who faces agonies and sometimes questions his own moral values.
The novel has already won the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award and the Vayalar Award among others. It was once described by Jnanpith Awardee Chandrasekhar Kambar as “exciting and strange in many ways”.
Varma was to be handed the award and Rs 50,000 in cash on 28 February at a grand cultural function to be held within the famous Guruvayoor Temple premises. However, the court has ruled that the scheduled cultural programme associated with the award ceremony could be held, but the award cannot be handed to Varma.
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The controversy
The controversy erupted after the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board announced that this year’s award was being conferred on Varma.
Three right-wing groups separately petitioned the Kerala High Court seeking its intervention.
The petitioners told ThePrint that they are not against Varma or his body of work, but are objecting to the specific recognition — the Poonthanam Njanappana award — being given to him.
One of the petitioners, Advocate C. Rajendran claimed that in Shyama Madhavam, Krishna is depicted as an immoral person with no conscience.
The lawyer said that in Varma’s version, Krishna admits to being silently attracted to Draupadi, claims that the Bhagavad Gita was purposeless and also reveals that he only mediated between the Pandavas and the Kauravas to intensify their rivalry so that war was inevitable.
“The book portrays Varma’s interpretation of Lord Krishna’s thoughts. By reading his poetry, one would think that Krishna is a fraud and a person who we cannot trust,” Rajendran told ThePrint. “The award should not be given to the person who ridicules Lord Krishna. He is God for so many of us.”
Rajendran further accused the ruling Left Democratic Party of having filled the posts in the state-run Devaswom Board with those with affiliations to the CPI (Marxist) party. He blamed them for having named Varma as the winner.
Shilpa Nair, a religious activist who was at the forefront of the Sabarimala agitation, also objected to the award. “Many have interpreted the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata and the Ramayana differently. Devotees are really hurt with Poonthanam’s award being given to him,” Nair said. “We are not against his creativity or his award-winning work. We cannot give an award to somebody who has written some nonsense on Krishna. He is a Communist and he has added his political view point to it.”
Nothing blasphemous: Varma
When ThePrint contacted Prabha Varma, he said that there was nothing “blasphemous” in his book.
“This book was published eight years ago. It has won several awards. Until now, nobody had objected to it,” Varma said. “Suddenly, people from the Sangh Parivar have moved the court. The court has now stayed the awards ceremony. So what does it mean?”
“It looks like the Sangh Parivar did this with an agenda to divert attention from what is happening in Delhi and other parts of the country against Citizenship Amendment Act,” he added.
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Yes it’s time that the negative and immoral forces
who try to gain cheap popularity by insulting traditions and religious faiths are halted.
Unable to create something on their own it’s a common trend now to give colouredand biased views
and manipulate even literature and arts just to be in NEWS.
It is amazing to me how much courts time is wasted on cases like this! More fairy tales!