Author: C V Gopalakrishnan
Publication: The Hindu
Date: October 29, 2001
The unveiling of the statue of Sri
Chithra Thirunal Balarama Varma last king of the erstwhile Travancore State
- on November 13 by Dr. C. Rangarajan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, should
recall the turbulent history which the former State had gone through in
the thirties on the eve of the epoch- making Temple Entry Proclamation
issued by the Maharaja. It was the first progressive move taken in the
country and the blow struck against a hitherto unyielding Hindu orthodoxy.
Commentators on the proclamation said that, " a blow had been struck at
Hindu religious obscurantism from which it never recovered".
The proclamation issued on November
12, 1936, said: "Profoundly convinced of the truth and validity of our
religion, believing that it is based on divine guidance and on an all-
comprehending toleration, knowing that in its practice it has throughout
the, centuries adapted itself to the needs of changing times, solicitous
that none of our subjects should by reasons of birth, caste or community
be denied the consolation and solace of the Hindu faith, we have decided
and thereby declare, ordain and command that subject to such rules and
conditions as may be laid down and imposed by us for preserving their proper
atmosphere and maintaining their rituals and observances, there should
be henceforth no restriction placed on any Hindu by birth or religion on
entering or worshipping at the temples controlled by us and our Government."
Though there was nothing which the
caste Hindus could do to nullify what had been done by the proclamation,
the casteists clinging to the untouchability doctrine stayed away from
the temples, which they believed, had become polluted by the presence of
the 'avarnas' (untouchables). This led to the Travancore Government issuing
a confidential circular to its caste Hindu officers that they were expected
to attend temple services regularly and they had to sign a, register of
attendance -for some months.
It is, however, surprising to know
that the then Maharaja of the neighbouring Cochin State, "refused to allow
Nambudiri priests who had entered the 'polluted temples' of Travancore
to officiate in the temples of Cochin, causing a quarrel which went on
for five years". The Maharaja of Cochin, however, was later the first to
constitute a responsible Government in his State in 1946, almost a year
before India had become independent and his move was hailed by Jawaharlal
Nehru. While Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar - who was the then Dewan of Travancore
- played a major role in ushering the Maharaja's proclamation which was
regarded as highly revolutionary at the time, the stand he was taking a
few months before India's Independence was going to make him unpopular
and finally led to a knife attack forcing him to resign his post. He was
unyielding in his plea for making Travancore independent of the Indian
Union. It was based on the treaty which Travancore had signed with Britain
in 1795 as an independent State for defending itself from foreign enemies.
The treaty was followed by another
one in 1805 under which the ruler conceded only "certain powers of advice".
His stand was that there was no question of conquest or the assumption
by the British of sovereignty as such. Travancore, therefore, "would revert
to the status of 1795 as an independent State". While talking of the need
for the State of Travancore to sign agreements with the Government of India
with regard to matters such as customs, trade and railways, "they were
matters to be settled by treaty and not by dictation". The advice given
by Lord Louis Mountbatten, last British Viceroy, to be practical and to
give up his demand for independence, did not move C. P. until he decided
to quit as Dewan after the knife attack on July 25, 1947. In his report
to the Secretary of State for India, Lord Mountbatten said: "The adherence
of Travancore after all C. P.'s declarations of independence has had a
profound effect on all other States and is sure to shake the nation."
It was, however, going to take a
year more before the integration of the princely States into the Indian
Union was completed after the police action to subdue the Nizam of Hyderabad.
The French settlements in Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Chandranagore
were transferred to India after an agreement with France in 1954.
