Video of Hindu ritual Theyyam that usually starts with Islamic prayer in Kerala shared with false communal angle
Claim
The Kerala government appointed Muslim and Christian priests in the temples.
Now the situation is such that alcohol is being served to the image of Hanuman ji, meat is being served and Allah Ho Akbar is being proclaimed.
Rating
Explanation
A 1:26-minute video clip purportedly showing a Hindu ritual with Islamic prayer is shared widely on Twitter with a claim that Kerala government-appointed Muslim and Christian priests in the temples. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here, here and here. The claim is mostly made by BJP supporters.
https://twitter.com/its_vsr/status/1639559959695294464?s=46&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw
The posts is Hindi read as “केरला सरकार ने मन्दिरों में मुस्लिम और क्रिश्चियन पुजारी नियुक्त कर दिए, अब हालात ये हैं किहनुमान जी के प्रतिरूप को शराब पिलाई जा रही है मांस परोसा जा रहा है और अल्लाह हो अकबर का उद्घोष हो रहा है।”
What is the truth?
When reverse searching the keyframes of the viral video a Reddit webpage is found carrying the video with the caption “Our unity is centuries old’: Hindu ritualistic dance Theyyam begins with an Islamic prayer”. The same is mentioned in the video clip tweeted by a user with the user name ‘AbbakkaHypatia’ on 11, January 2023.
With further search, an Indian Express article dated 16, January 2023 is found carrying matching visuals from the viral video. The article mentioned it as a performance of the Hindu ritualistic dance Theyyam that begins with an Islamic prayer. Theyyam is said as a ritualistic dance performed in northern Kerala and parts of Karnataka, often by people who are momentarily treated as God-like entities during the act.
The viral video is also found uploaded on 23, Dec 2022 on the ‘MediaoneTV Live’ Youtube channel mentioning it as Theyyam, Kasargod.
And another Youtube channel ‘Samayam Varthakal’ uploaded a video on 24, December 2022 with the viral video part starting from 0:31 minutes timestamp of the video. The title mentions the ritual as ‘Bappiriyan Manichi Theyyam’.
Malayalam Samayam article dated 24, December 2022 is also found carrying the same video mentioning bapirian theyyam and manichi theyyam.
Conclusion
It is found that the video is of the theyyam ritual which usually starts with Islamic prayer in North Kerala. The claim that Kerala government-appointed Muslim and Christian priests in Hindu temples is false.
