Thiruvananthaupram: The family of Mosa Walsalam Sastriar, a social reformer, has submitted a complaint to the committee of LMS Church on Sunday against the vandalism of the tomb of Sastriar.
This act of vandalism took place while the South Kerala diocese of Church of South India (CSI) was celebrating the hundredth death anniversary of Sastriar. The tomb of Mr Sastriar at the cemetery of the church, which was considered as a historical monument, was pulled down by miscreants on Friday.
The family members including his great granddaughter Professor Sumitra Ross Chandran, in the complaint to the church, have demanded the restoration of the monument.
Mr Sastriar whose life spanned from 1847 to 1916 was a poet, music composer, singer and social reformer. His lyrics and hymns are being used in Sunday services by the CSI and the Malankara Marthoma Suriyani Church all over the State.
There used to be only a very few Christian devotional songs in Malayalam, except some translations from the liturgical books of Syrian churches of the state and a few compositions made by western missionaries. It was Sastriar who used the Carnatic music church choir of the state. Following, the request from Srimoolam Thirunal, the then Maharaja of Travancore, Sastriar even performed at the palace.
