Arthunkal church opens doors for Sabarimala pilgrims

ALAPPUZHA: All debates on whether the St Andrew’s Church at Arthunkal was a Shiva temple earlier seem to have been laid to rest now with the arrival of Sabarimala pilgrims.  The 16th century Catholic Church built by Portuguese missionaries in a coastal hamlet near here, stands as a model for religious harmony.  It has been a custom for the church to receive Sabarimala pilgrims from November to January when the Mandala and Makaravilakku season of the Sabarimala temple takes place. Devotees visit the sea-side church as a stopover to remove their holy beads in a ritualistic manner.

A controversy erupted when T.G. Mohandas, convener of the BJP’s intellectual cell, tweeted to say the church was built by invaders in the place of a Shiva temple and Hindus should reclaim it.  Fr Christopher M. Athasseril, the Rector of the church said on the first day of this Sabari season a group of pilgrims reached the church.  “The new generation seems to be unaware of this custom. The church used to set up temporary shelters for the needy, facility for taking bath and arranging time to offer prayer at the church. It’s time to spread the message that every religion stands for one ideology called ‘love’. The young generation has to get a chance to know the legend associated with Lord Ayyappa and the church so that this meaningful gesture stays as time passes by,” he said.  

The annual visit of pilgrims to this church commemorates the bond between Lord Ayyappa and the church priest who was loved greatly by the locals. They believed that he had some holy powers to heal pain. He was called Arthunkal Veluthachan (fair-skinned father) and he installed a statue of St. Sebastian in the church. According to parish records, it is the first parish in Alappuzha diocese. Prayers first began inside a wooden structure built by first Vicar Father Gasper Pius in 1581, who first sought permission from Kochi king Veera Kerala Varma to build a place of worship there.

The church was renovated many times since then. A stone and lime structure was constructed in place of the wooden church in 1591, by the second vicar, Father Giacomo Fenicio. It became a major pilgrim centre after a statue of St Sebastian — who was killed by a Roman dictator for embracing Christianity and is hailed as a martyr — was brought here from Italy by ship in the 1640s.  The church got a new façade and a bell tower in 1870. Work on the current structure, made of granite, was completed in 1967. In 2010, the parish was elevated to status of a Basilica.

As per recent tweet by Mr Mohandas, Arthunkal church was a Hindu temple. Invaders converted it into a church. But Hindus still pray looking at the old sanctum sanctorum. "The altar of the church fell many times during its construction. Worried Christian priests consulted an astrologer, who advised them to build the church at a distance from the temple's sanctum sanctorum. Hindu pilgrims to Sabarimala begin to remove their sacred beads glancing at the old sanctum sanctorum."