God prefers toddy as priests turn tipsy

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When you enter the premises of North Malabar’s Sri Muthappan temple at Parassinikadavu in Kerala, you may wonder whether you are standing in front of a holy shrine.

No doubt, you are. It’s only that dogs are worshipped here, and toddy is allowed in.

Dogs are seen here more as a companion of Muthappan, the presiding deity, who is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva.

Daily, about 15 litres of toddy are offered to Muthappan. However, the devotees who come in, instead, with foreign liquor will have problem now. Not only in Parassinikadavu, but in other Muthappan temples in the district too.

Most of these temples had banned the use of foreign liquor in their premises. On Tuesday, the Eerayi kolli Muthappan Madappura temple too has banned it.

“We restricted the use of foreign liquor three months ago. We took this decision as toddy is the traditional offering, and it must be so,” said a temple committee member at Parassinikadavu.

The decision not to entertain foreign liquor at the temple was taken also as priests began consuming the liquor. A couple months ago, a priest got intoxicated due to intake of foreign liquor.

“Many such cases have been noticed. Because of this, priests are unable to do the next day’s pooja. They get drunk at night and are not able to get up in time for the early morning pooja,” he said.

At custom would have it, a portion of the liquor returned by the priest after its offering to the deity, is consumed by the devotees. “There are those who create a public nuisance. We need to ensure the safety of women, and hence the ban on foreign liquor,” said the committee member.

In fact, foreign liquor was banned in Kunnathur Paadi temple many years ago because of such incidents. “This decision is welcome,” says Sushanth, a devotee from Kannur.

“The use of foreign liquor has created many problems. However, most of the devotees from far off places will continue to bring foreign liquor, because they cannot get toddy from the local shops
here.

“The society will sell a few toddy bottles,” said another temple committee member of Parassinikadavu temple.