PATHANAMTHITTA: A group of devotees led by the SNDP Joint Committee had a darshan at the Kakkat Koikkal Sree Dharmashasta temple at Perunad in the Pathanamthitta district wearing shirts.

They defied the custom of the shrine in protest of the Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam temple incident.

On March 23 at around 9 am, a group under the SNDP joint committee visited the temple under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). After lining up in a queue, each devotee wearing a shirt offered prayers before the deity.

The joint committee members said the act was a protest against the incident at Koodalmanikyam in Irinjalakkuda, where the temple priest had decided to stay away from rituals following the appointment of a man belonging to a ‘lower’ caste as kazhakam — a temple staffer assigned to make floral garments for the deity and to oversee preparations for rituals.