For a pilgrim visiting the Sri Maasi Kariya Bantan Ayyan Thiru Kovil, an Adivasi temple located deep inside crucial tiger and vulture habitats of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), the journey entails an almost hour-long journey by bus from Udhagamandalam to Vazhaithottam in the MTR buffer zone.
Once there, pilgrims have to cross the forest check-post and endure a trip on heavily damaged roads and rocky paths for almost 10 km to reach Adicombai camp.
The tiring trip by road is then followed by a steep descent on foot for just over 2 km, where devotees will descend over 1,000 feet in altitude, braving sheer cliffs and loose sand, before they reach the raging Kedarhalla River, which needs to be traversed before they can reach the temple. Though the walk from Adicombai to the temple and back is less than 5 km, it takes most devotees over three hours to traverse, due to the challenging nature of the terrain where falls and injuries are common.
For the last few decades, this challenging trek to the temple, which had in the past only been undertaken by Badagas and Adivasis, mostly from the Irula and Kurumba communities, has gained popularity among residents in the surrounding districts of Coimbatore, Salem and Erode in Tamil Nadu as well as Gundlupet and other parts of Karnataka. The Forest Department as well as local senior citizens estimate that the number of devotees, which numbered between 500 to 1,000 people in the 1980s till the 2000s, has now increased to somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2024.
Other temple festivals that take place in the reserve, in Anaikkaty, Bokkapuram and Siriyur have also seen significant increases in crowds each year, putting an immense strain on local ecology and wildlife populations while contributing to pollution of water resources in the region.
The Forest Department as well as local senior citizens estimate that the number of devotees, which numbered between 500 to 1,000 people in the 1980s till the 2000s, has now increased to somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2024 | Photo Credit: Rohan Premkumar
On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, Selvi Mahesh and her family, from Udhagamandalam in the Nilgiris, were on their way to the temple for the third time in recent years. “My husband and I have been coming to the temple along with our family for the past three years. We were told about the temple by other friends who have also made the trip in the past,” she said, adding that the number of visitors has only increased during the three years that she has visited.
Another devotee, Raj, from Gundlupet, said that the Maasi temple, has become more commonly known in Karnataka in recent years. “Part of it is the journey that one needs to take to reach it. I believe that the harder the journey, the greater the chance for our prayers to be answered,” he said, adding that he was visiting the temple with a group of over 20 friends and relatives.
Calls for limited numbers
With the temples being located deep inside the buffer zone of MTR, a crucial area for endangered and critically endangered species of wildlife such as elephants, tigers, vultures and striped hyenas, conservationists in the region have called on the government to impose restrictions to the number of people allowed to visit during the annual festival to limit their impact on wildlife.
Nilgiris-based conservationist, N. Mohanraj said that the Maasi Kovil temple festival would only previously be attended by local communities. “However, in recent years, non-Adivasi groups have begun taking part in large numbers each year, exacerbating existing pressures on wildlife in the region,” he said.
On the importance of the region to wildlife, especially tigers, Mr. Mohanraj said that the area surrounding Maasi temple was home to a high population of tigers. “The temple itself was built along a corridor which allowed humans as well as people from criss-crossing between what constitutes present-day parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The same corridors still exist for wildlife,” said Mr. Mohanraj.
Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, from the Segur Nature Trust, agrees that the region is crucial to ensure connectivity and genetic dispersal between wildlife populations in the Eastern and Western Ghats.
“While the area hosts a large number of tigers and elephants, it should also be remembered that they are the last remaining strongholds for species that are at imminent risk of becoming locally extinct, such as the three resident species of critically endangered vultures as well as animals such as the striped hyena, which the Forest Department estimates number less than 30 individuals,” said Mr. Puyravaud.
Water pollution
Apart from disturbances to wildlife, the huge influx of humans to the temple each year also has serious effects on water resources and poses a major threat of disease spreading to wildlife, says Mr. Mohanraj. On Tuesday alone, over 100 goats were slaughtered at the temple and their carcasses washed in the river. There were also no toilets available at the temple, forcing devotees to defecate into the river and in the surrounding forests. “There are many diseases that could spread from human faeces,” said Mr. Mohanraj, while pathogens can be carried downstream and affect wildlife dependent on the waterbody for drinking,” he added.
On June 18 alone, over 100 goats were slaughtered at the temple and their carcasses washed in the river. There were also no toilets available at the temple, forcing devotees to defecate into the river and in the surrounding forests | Photo Credit: Rohan Premkumar
Members of the temple management committee, which organises the festival each year, also agree that the number of devotees has witnessed a huge increase. D. Krishnan, who has recollections of taking part in the festival as a child, said that a minimum of 10,000 people visit the temple over two days each year. “Previously, it would only be members of the local communities, numbering maybe 500 to 1,000 persons,” he said.
However, Krishnan and other members of the management committee, such as B. Bommarayan and M. Mani, do not agree with conservationists’ concerns, arguing that the temple festival is held only once a year and that “outsiders” are allowed to camp inside the forest only for one night. “We also conduct a clean-up after the completion of the festival,” said Mr. Bommarayan, stating that he believed it was exclusionary to stop non-Adivasis from visiting the temple.
“We also have a tremendous respect for the forests, and ensure that no alcohol is allowed to be brought in, and that people do not enter the forests after it becomes dark while fireworks are also strictly prohibited,” said M. Mani.
However, conservationists argue that temple festivals across the region, exacerbate existing pressures on wildlife which exist year-round with the highway cutting through MTR. “The pressures add up, with temple festivals in Anaikatty, Siriyur, Bokkapuram and the Maasi temple attracting lakhs of devotees who have very little understanding of the ecological importance of the region,” said Mr. Puyravaud.
On Monday (June 17) night, devotees wanting to visit the temple staged a protest at the forest check-post which they reached after dusk, demanding that they be allowed into the forests to make the precarious trek down to the temple. “These measures are put in place to ensure the safety of the devotees, many of whom are reluctant to follow them,” said a top Forest Department official. While regular devotees to the temple state that injuries along the route are common, an incident in 2022 revealed the ever-present dangers visitors face inside the tiger reserve when four persons, visiting the nearby Anaikkal Mariamman Temple were swept away in a flash flood.
Mr. Mohanraj, said that the Forest Department and State government must consider announcing measures to cap the number of visitors to the temples, as well as a ban on private vehicles entering the reserve past the forest check-post. “The Forest Department can operate their own vehicles to take devotees to Adicombai. This will likely lead to fewer people visiting,” he said, adding that non-tribals, without a connection to the temple should also be restricted from visiting in large numbers. “An e-pass system, to allow only a fixed number of devotees can also be considered,” he said.
“The Forest Department and State government needs to listen to ecologists and have specific laws or rules regulating temple-tourism within protected areas. The over-exploitation of the landscape results not just in disturbances for wildlife, but manifests in other ways. While the presence of tigers and elephants in significant numbers is often seen as a marker of health of local ecosystems, there have been comparable declines in other species, such as hyenas and vultures, all of which point to human factors resulting in their decline. Temple tourism, as well as other human activities in the region could be contributing factors to this,” said a Tamil Nadu based conservationist, requesting anonymity.
