The St. George Orthodox Church at Puthuppally, a time-honoured Syrian Christian pilgrimage centre, appears to be courting more visitors with its new-found identity as the gravesite of former Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy.
On the back of a continuing influx of people to pay their tributes to Chandy on the premises of the church here, a new pilgrimage circuit combining the location with other key spiritual centres such as the tomb of St. Alphonsa at Bharananganam is gradually taking shape in Central Travancore. The development has also fuelled speculations regarding a possible canonisation of the late leader in future.
Sources with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which owns the parish, attested to a strikingly high number of visitors arriving at the church every day and offering prayers at the burial site. “There are also a handful of people who plead intercession of the late leader for their personal prayers to God. The church regards this as an expression of their love for Chandy,” noted a senior functionary of the Orthodox Church.
Honouring his contributions as a public servant, the mortal remains of Chandy had been laid to rest in a special tomb built in an exclusive area reserved for departed priests of the Orthodox Church. The church committee, meanwhile, is also slated to hold a special meeting to decide on a memorial for the departed leader.
Inspired by this, a luxury bus operator at Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram, has announced a tour package to the tomb of the leader. The first trip of the package, priced at ₹500 per passenger, is being operated through a 49-seater bus from Attingal at 7 a.m. on August 5.
“Just over 20 seats have already been booked, while inquires are coming in,” said Prashanthan, owner of Vishwa Sree Tours and Travels which runs the package. He struck on the idea while operating a spiritual circuit package to major temples in Kottayam last week.
“While returning from Kottayam, we had a brief stopover at the Puthupally church around 9 p.m. I was surprised to find out the sheer number of visitors to the tomb at that time of the day,” he explained.
The package, according to him, is expected to attain further momentum during the upcoming pilgrimage seasons at the Malayattoor and Edathua churches in Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts respectively. By that time, luxury bus fleets of tour operators in the northern districts such as Wayanad and Kannur are slated to join the circuit, added Mr. Prashanthan, also the general secretary of the Contract Carrier Operators’ Association.
