Support for Mansiya increases; 5 artists boycott temple dance festival

Several artists in Kerala have come out in support of Bharatnatyam dancer Mansiya and have decided to boycott the national dance festival at the Koodal Manikya temple in Irinjalakkuda, Thrissur.

The temple authorities had recently withdrawn the approval given to Mansiya for a performance at the festival, saying that non-Hindus cannot enter the temple premises.

Till now, five dancers have announced that they will boycott the festival in protest against the temple authorities and in solidarity with Mansiya, who is a Muslim by birth.

Anju Aravind, Aparna Ramachandran, Devika Sajeevan, Ganga Laxmi and Karthik Manikandan are the dancers who have decided to quit the festival.

“If they had such a condition, they should have informed us well in advance. They approved Mansiya’s application, accepted her bio-data, scheduled her programme and printed posters. After that they informed her that she could not participate. This is an insult to artists,” Anju Aravind, a friend of Mansiya, told The Federal.

Last-minute condition

Anju, who is pursuing PhD in Bharatanatyam from Hyderabad Central University, said that she had other reasons too to boycott the festival.

“After finalising the programme and scheduling the performance, they asked us to sign some documents.  On behalf of all of us, Aparna went to the venue for signing the documents. Then only we realised that we have to give a statement in writing that we are believers of Hindu religion,” Anju said.

Anju and friends decided not to sign any such statement. “The religion you follow is a matter of personal choice. It has nothing to do with art. None of us wanted to give such an undertaking,” Anju added.

Mansiya was contacted on phone by the temple authorities a few days ago and informed that she could not perform because of her religious identity. “It was like a statement; they were not apologetic too. I was also asked whether I had converted to Hindu religion after marriage,” Mansiya told The Federal.

Mansiya recently married a violin artist, a Hindu. “I asked them how I could convert as I don’t follow any religion,” said Mansiya.

Shyam Kalyan, violinist and husband of Mansiya, posted on Facebook: “Art is our religion. And we are devotees of our Almighty, Dance and Music. Being and living as a human being might be harder, but if it gives us immense pleasure and makes our meaningful”.

Rising discrimination

Discrimination on the basis of religion is not something new to Mansiya. When she started public performances 15 years ago, she faced resistance from the Mohalla committee in her village.

The committee’s call to boycott her family created a controversy in 2005-06. That time she received support from a large number of people.

“My parents had lived a tough life facing boycott and ostracization at our place. However, they stood with me as a rock and supported my passion for dance,” Mansiya said.

Soumya Sukumaran, another Bharatanatyam dancer, was also denied permission to perform on the basis of her religious identity.

Sukumaran, a Christian, was told by the authorities to produce a ‘caste certificate’ for getting an approval for performance. She told the media that this happened after she informed the temple authorities that she was a Christian.

“Mansiya is one of us. We don’t want to perform at a place where Mansiya cannot go,” dancer Aparna Ramachandran, whose performance was scheduled on April 23, wrote on Facebook. She also expressed solidarity with those artists who refused to endorse their religious belief as a condition for performing at the temple. “We all are artists beyond religion,” she said.

In yet another recent incident, Vinod, a ‘Poorakkali’artist, a North Malabar traditional dance form performed in temples, was denied permission to perform in a Bhagavati temple in Kannur because his son had married a Muslim girl.

“Increasing number of such incidents of discrimination against artists on the basis of religion is an indication to where the country is heading to,” KK Shailaja, former Minister for Health and Social Justice, said, adding that Kerala has a rich and long tradition of religious co-existence. “Even religious festivals are celebrated by people from all religions in Kerala. We have to be vigilant against an organised attempt to communalise public spaces and art,” she said.