Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara

Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – 150th death anniversary of Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, which was commemorated on January 3

Concept –

• Saint Chavara was a social reformer, an educationist, a social entrepreneur, and a prolific poet.
• He deserves a place in the pantheon of socio-religious reformers that includes Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, JyotiraoPhule, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Sree Narayana Guru.
• Millions, irrespective of caste and creed, benefited from his work, which triggered a social, cultural and intellectual awakening in Kerala.
• Saint Chavara was a pioneer of education reforms. When education was the privilege of the social elites, his Pallikkoodam movement (setting up schools in church premises) enabled universal access to education.
• The practice initiated by Saint Chavara in Christian schools influenced the diwan of Travancore, C P RamaswamyIyer, to plan mid-day meals in government schools in 1936.
• In 1846, Saint Chavara established a Sanskrit school in Mannanam in Kerala, that enabled ordinary people to study the sacred Hindu literature in Sanskrit.
• The first indigenous Catholic religious congregation for men (CMI) he founded in 1831 supplied dedicated and highly-skilled personnel for managing the schools and institutions.
• The first religious congregation for women (CMC-CTC) he founded in 1866 established schools to promote education for women with boarding facilities. It was a starting point for women’s empowerment in Kerala.
• In 1846, Saint Chavara founded a printing press in Mannanam, and published educational materials and books to promote social harmony.
  • Deepika, the oldest Malayalam newspaper now in circulation, was started from this press in 1887.
• As a mark of his exceptional altruism, Chavara founded a House of Charity in 1869 in Kainakari, his native village, for the aged, the abandoned and the sick.
• His poem AnasthasyayudeRakthasakshyam (The Martyrdom of Anastasia, 1862) is considered the first minor epic in Malayalam.
• Atmanutapam(Compunction of Heart) reveals the yogic poet in him exploring the rumblings of the inner self.
• OruNallaAppanteChavarul (Testament of a Loving Father) is a treatise on the upbringing of children, settling family disputes and the importance of writing wills.
• In his autobiography, Nalagamam (Chronicles), Saint Chavara vividly narrates how Hindus, Muslims and Christians together toiled hard to establish his monastery in Mannanam.
• He was a true karma yogi, contemplative in action and working tirelessly to liberate people from the tyrannies of ignorance, poverty, and sickness.