Kochi: The city paid rich tributes to late rationalist V K Pavithran, who championed the cause of inter-faith marriage in his relentless fight against religious and caste-based discrimination on his birth centenary. People from various walks of life gathered at Changampuzha Park on Sunday to remember the less-celebrated social activist who played a key role in the state’s progressive movements with his pragmatic steps that took orthodoxy head on. 

An author with great scientific temperament, Pavithran penned the famous Malayalam poem which can be loosely translated as “There’s no Hindu blood in us, Nor is there any Christian or islamic blood in us. There’s only human blood in us”. 

Inaugurating the commemoration meet, Kerala’s Industries and Law Minister P Rajeev said that Pavithran dedicated his life to the rationalist and inter-faith marriage movements in Kerala when they were in their early stages. 

The centenary celebration was organised by Kerala Mishra Vivaha Vedi and Kerala Yuktivada Sangham (KYS). In his keynote address, Tamil-Malayalam writer Jayamohan said that while a large section of the lower caste people in Tamil Nadu continued to be religiously active and mirred in superstitions, rationalism grew among the upper castes, but while the upper castes held on to traditional beliefs in Kerala, it was the lower caste people who were attracted by progressive movements and abandoned the world of faith. The activities of people like Pavithran formed the basis for such movements that took root in Kerala. At the same time, he pointed out that since the rationalist movement was an intellectual movement, it could not become a mass movement in general and political parties, including the left, did not uphold atheism as their major slogan.

Kerala Mishra Vivaha Sangham President Adv. Rajagopal Vakathanam presided over the conference. Writer Subhash Chandran, K N Unnikrishnan MLA, Justice K K Dineshan, poet Kureepuzha Sreekumar, and S M Mathivadani were among those who spoke. 

Born into the ezhava community, Pavithran had to endure caste-based discrimination in his early years and he grew up to be inspired by the ideals of activists such as C V Kunhiraman, Sahodaran Ayyappan, Nataraja Guru, K P Thayyil, P K Deevar, R Sugathan, P Kesavadev, Swami Aryabhatan and R Shankar. 

Pavithran formed the Akhila Kochi Mishra Vivaha Sangham (All Kochi Inter-caste Marriage Association) on December 8, 1946. In 1958, he founded Kerala Mishra Vivaha Sangham along with fellow activists.