Muslims donate land to construct Hindu temple

By Juhan Samuel

Malappuram (Kerala), Sept. 25 (ANI): A small village in Kerala has shown the preserving communal harmony among Muslims and Hindus.

A Muslim mosque committee and a Muslim family member in the Peruvalloor panchayat in Malappuram district has provided their land to reconstruct a centuries old temple that too just 50 meters away from a mosque. The proposal originated when the debris of an old Gowri Sankara temple, which was destroyed years ago, were recovered from a land near to the half-a-century old Hidhayathul Islam Secondary Madrasa a few weeks ago.

The village panchayat members and mosque authorities held talks with the representatives of both religions and decided to hand over the land which centuries ago belonged to a Hindu family.

“P. Abdul Nasar, owner of the ancestral land, who is in Gulf now, came forward to declare that he nor his family members are not at all hesitant to hand over the land to construct the temple. This land is owned by my father and later given to my brother, who decided to take this step,” said P Sulikha, sister of Abdul.

There were small disagreements between the representatives of the communities on the reconstruction of the temple. But later an informally constituted committee comprising of mosque authorities, members from the village panchayat and temple authorities decided to discuss the problem. The feeling was that the reconstruction of the temple was impossible, taking the proximity of Madrasa and Farookabad mosque into consideration.

The committee kept the issue a secret, and tried to arrive at a solution. .

According to a temple authority, the land, belonged to Mangalasseri Illam years ago. But the ownership of the land changed several times before Abdul became the owner.

The Hindu families later abandoned the temple.

One of the temple committee members, Dasan Kottaykulam, said: “The Gowri Sanakra temple was a part of Kadampuzha temple which has a legend of over 3000 years. All the members from the Hindu community are happy for the kind consideration shown by the Muslim community.” For the past 300 years, no worship has taken place at the temple, which is in a dilapidated condition. Now, the mosque authorities have handed over the land to us and we will soon start the reconstruction and modification work, Dasan added.

As per the legend, Lord Siva and Goddess Parvathi had stayed here for nearly four years. It is believed that the temple was constructed nearly 3000 years ago.

The temple authority has formed a committee named Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti to reconstruct the temple. Villagers can now listen to the prayer calls from the mosque and chanting of Vedas from the temple at the same time during the holy month of Ramzan. (ANI)

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