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Guruvayur Satyagraha refers to the non-violent demonstrations held in the Guruvayur temple in the Ponnani Taluk of Malabar district (present-day Thrissur district) from 1931-1932. The movement began in response to the exclusion of the lower castes, who were considered untouchables from entering the Guruvayur Temple.
The Satyagraha began on 1 November 1931 under the leadership of K. Kelappan under the Kerala Congress Committee. The other prominent leaders who accompanied him were A.K. Gopalan, Mannathu Padmanabhan, P. Krishna Pillai and N.P. Damodaran Nair. People from Thiruvananthapuram and the Malabar region reached Guruvayur in a procession. Throughout the procession, they held public meetings to explain why permission for temple entry had to be granted to the lower castes and untouchability had to be abolished.
There was immense support from the media for the Satyagraha. Newspapers such as Kesari, Mathrubhumi, and Malayala Manorama published detailed reports on it.
The protest continued until September in the same manner. On September 13, 1932, the Temple Entrance Satyagraha underwent a crucial transformation. On this day, M.K. Gandhi declared his decision to fast unto death in response to the government’s move to establish separate electorates for the scheduled castes in India. Considering the instance as suitable for mass support, K. Kelappan announced that he would fast in front of the Guruvayur temple until the untouchables were granted permission for entry.
He officially started the fast at the eastern entrance to the Guruvayur temple . In the evening, a large public gathering was held at the place. Further, a request was made to the people to observe September 25 as Guruvayur Day and conduct gatherings throughout the Madras Presidency to mark the day.
Although, through continuous fasting Kelappan’s health started to deteriorate yet he remained unwavering in his resolve. Prominent leaders put pressure on him to stop his fast, including the Zamorin who owned the Guruvayur Temple. The Zamorin believed that he could only rule according to the Hindu religious endowment act which ensures the protection of Hindu traditions and he was weak in power to do anything beyond that.
On September 29, All Kerala Savarna Conference, presided over by Mattannur Madhusoodanan was gathered in Guruvayur. An estimate of ten thousand people participated in the conference, and pledged to fast inside the Guruvayur temple.
They adopted the following resolutions :
The Committee formed in connection with the Satyagraha had V.T. Bhattathirippad and K.A. Damodara Menon as its secretaries.
On 1 October 1932, a group of twenty-four Savarna volunteers began their fast for the first time within the temple, which eventually increased to fifty.
Following these incidents, the Zamorin contacted Gandhi to persuade Kelappan to stop his fast, telling him that providing entry for the lower castes would hurt the sentiments of the upper castes and would be a violence done unto them. Gandhi enquired Kelappan and responded back to the Zamorin that it wouldn’t be reasonable to pressurise Kelappan to quit because his Satyagraha was only supposed to awaken people’s conscience and not coerce them to act on its behalf.
However, subsequently Kelappan’s Satyagraha appeared unjustifiable to Gandhi for the following reasons. Firstly, according to Gandhi, he committed a mistake by not consulting with him who was an expert on the matters pertaining to Satyagraha, secondly, that Kelappan did not provide sufficient notices to the Zamorin before he began fasting. On September 30, Gandhi recommended that Kelappan temporarily suspend the fast and asked him to give a notice to the temple authorities that he would resume the fast after three months. As a response, Kelappan put an end to his fast on 2nd October hoping the issue would be resolved in three months. However, after three months, the Zamorin responded that he had not promised that Temple entry would be granted and refrained from discussions on the matter.
Thus, the Guruvayur Satyagraha was slower to reach its objective but succeeded in questioning anti-lower caste sensibilities of the time. Nothing happened in particular regarding temple entry until 1936 when the Maharaja of Travancore issued a proclamation allowing temple entry for the lower castes. However, the temples of Cochin and Malabar remained closed before the lower castes till 1947.
