Thiruvananthapuram: Hindu organisations and BJP in Kerala have resented the debate over whether the 'Makara jyothi' of Sabarimala temple was a divine phenomenon or a man-made fire, arguing that it would amount to transgressing into the sphere of belief and traditions.
"This unnecessary debate is being triggered by certain vested interests with ulterior motives and to save the real culprits responsible for the Pullumedu stampede that claimed the lives 102 devotees last week," VHP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan said.
There was no direct link between the Pullumedu tragedy and the Makara jyothi and a controversy over the latter was being triggered deliberately with the intention of hurting the faith of millions of Ayyappa devotees, he said.
Neither Travancore Devaswom Board which manages the hill shrine nor Hindu forums had ever made claims over Makarajyothi with the intention of misleading the devotees, Rajasekharan, also general secretary of Kerala Hindu Aikyavedi Forum, said.
"What is now happening is an unwarranted controversy over a non-issue. No records or books concerning Sabarimala have any reference or explanations on the question whether the Jyothi is natural or man-made," he claimed.
BJP state president V. Muraleedharan said this was not a question to be legally settled and such efforts could only be seen as encroachment on the realm of belief and traditions.
The Kerala High Court had yesterday asked the Travancore Devaswom Board to clarify whether the 'jyothi' was a celestial light or a man-made fire.
Thousands throng Sabarimala temple every year in January on the occasion of Makarasamkrama pooja to witness the light flashing across the eastern skies off the shrine.
While devotees mostly consider it a divine phenomenon, rationalists have dubbed it as a fraud committed on the unsuspecting believers with the connivance of the temple authorities and government agencies.