ABSTRACT
Though all the six front-runners of progressive Malayalam literature were ‘believers,’ temples and deities were touchy topics when Kerala was getting hyper-politicized under the Marxist umbrella with slogans like ‘throw away the idols, they are mere stones,’ and ‘turn temples into factories and create employment.’ Kaaroor, however, struck a different note with stories of a great-grandma who worships a stone under a bakul tree and deifies it, with rituals, as Lord Siva of Kashi-Benaras for blessings to alleviate the financial stress of her big matriarchal joint family (in ‘Brother Who Went to Kashi’). Three other temple stories, one of them on the vast ‘holy pond’ of the famous Ettumanur temple, carry forward Kaaroor’s spiritual orientation. While entertaining common readers, scholars of the sociology of religion will find much data in this section like: Family temples eventually becoming village temples, their role in promoting peforming arts, and the catalytic roles they play in social life. Two more fine episodes depict erosion in spiritual values (‘A Divine Farce’ and ‘Heroic Deed!’).
