Guruvayur Satyagraha

Guruvayur Satyagraha took place in (1931–32) and was a Satyagraha (non-violent protest) in present Thrissur district, which was then part of Ponnani Taluk of Malabar district, now part of Kerala, which was an effort to allow entry for untouchables into the Guruvayur Temple. It was led by K. Kelappan, who undertook a hunger strike for 12 day, until it was abandoned because of a request from Mahatma Gandhi. (). Mahatma Gandhi hailed it as "the miracle of modern times" and " a smriti which is peoples charter of spiritual emanicipation".K. Kelappan, Mannathu Padmanabhan, A.K Gopalan(volunteer captain) and N.P DamodaranNair were the leaders of that agitation.

When Samuthiri, the temple trustee was reluctant to concede as the second phase of the struggle K.Kelappan started fast unto death from 22 September 1932 onwards. But due to Gandhiji’s intervention on 22 October the struggle was withdrawn

Subsequently, there was an opinion poll held at Ponnani taluk in which 77 per cent favoured the entry of all castes in to the temples. Leaders, from various parts of Kerala, were later in leadership of the Communist Party of India; such as P. Krishna Pillai and A. K. Gopalan, took part in the effort. The right to enter temples was granted to "Backward" Hindus like Ezhavas only in 1936 in India by the Maharajah of Travancore and the Temple Entry Proclamation.^[1][2]

References

External links

• Kerala Cafe: Kerala History
• JSTOR: Temple-entry Movement in Travancore by Robin Jeffrey - requires JSTOR access beyond first page.