Varkala, Dec 31 (IANS) Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the Sivagiri pilgrimage, now in its 93rd year, remains a powerful reminder of Sree Narayana Guru’s humanist and rationalist vision, which continues to shape Kerala’s social and cultural consciousness even after a century.

Speaking at the Sivagiri Theerthadanam conference, the Chief Minister noted that with the centenary of the Guru’s samadhi approaching in three years, the relevance of his philosophy had only deepened in the present socio-political context.

The Sivagiri pilgrimage, he said, was not a ritualistic exercise but a historic declaration of social reform rooted in equality, fraternity and reason.

Tracing the origins of the Kerala Renaissance to the Aruvippuram consecration, CM Vijayan said the Guru had mounted a direct challenge to the ‘chaturvarna’ caste system that governed social relations, economic life and even legal norms of the time.

Caste, he observed, functioned as an instrument of power, regulating occupation, rights and punishment, and reducing large sections of society to indignity and servitude.

The Chief Minister said the Guru’s call for fraternity beyond caste and religion — was a radical social vision, not a spiritual abstraction.

“The declaration ‘We have no caste’ was an assertion aimed at dismantling caste itself, not replacing one hierarchy with another,” he said.

Referring to the Sivagiri pilgrimage message delivered on January 16, 1928, CM Vijayan recalled that the Guru had insisted the pilgrimage should not be confined to any single community.

The eight objectives outlined by the Guru, including education, cleanliness, organisation, agriculture, trade, handicrafts and scientific training, reflected a forward-looking emphasis on material and social progress, with education placed at the forefront.

CM Vijayan said Kerala’s post-Independence reforms — particularly land reforms and the expansion of public education — were inspired by the Guru’s humanist philosophy and laid the foundation for the state’s distinctive development trajectory.

At a time when irrational beliefs and distorted histories were being promoted, the Chief Minister said the Sivagiri message reaffirmed the primacy of reason, equality and human dignity, values essential for safeguarding a democratic and inclusive society.

–IANS

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