Justin John and Vijimol were all set to get married on the morning of Thursday, May 18, at the Kottody St Xavier's Syro Malabar Church in Kasaragod of Kerala, after a Kottayam court order approved the unions of Knanaya persons with those outside the community. Justin is a Knanaya catholic while Vijimol is a catholic outside the sect. However, last minute barriers posed by Justin's Knanaya St Anne's church led to the couple marrying outside the Kottody church in a small, non-religious ceremony.
News of their union had created a lot of interest in the past few days, after a Kottayam court ruled that no one can be ousted from the community citing endogamy. Before this, a Knayaya catholic who married outside the community would be ousted from the church. But the court order allowed those like Justin to remain a member of the community after the marriage. The betrothal took place on April 17 and announcements of the upcoming wedding were put up in both their churches — Vijimol’s St Xavier’s, a Syro Malabar Catholic church, and Justin’s St Anne’s, a Knanaya church. But on the wedding eve, after all the arrangements had been made, the Knanaya church refused to issue the wedding notice required for the ceremony to take place at the Syro Malabar church, say those supporting the union.
The Knanayas are Catholics believed to have originated from the Jewish-Christian community that migrated to Kerala from southern Mesopotamia in AD 345. The name Knanaya comes from the merchant Knai Thomman (Thomas of Cana), who led the migration. The community has strictly followed endogamy down the centuries, keeping to their ‘culture and tradition’ and maintaining the ‘purity’ of their bloodline.
For over three decades now, the Knanaya Catholic Naveekarana Samiti (KCNS) has been fighting a legal battle to win the court order that would allow Justin and Vijimol to marry without either of them losing their respective church memberships. Several groups had fought long and hard against the rigid practices of the Knanaya community, such as branding children born in marriages outside the community as ‘impure-blooded’, ousting families from the church, and so on.
“They cited some issue in the church’s jurisdiction, only to have the wedding cancelled. But both the parties – of the bride and groom – had finished every preparation, invited hundreds of people, arranged caterers, and booked the hall. It is a human right violation if anyone goes against the court order that had sanctioned the marriage,” said TO Joseph, president of KCNS.
The KCNS’s battle had begun in 1991, two years after Biju Uthup, a Knanaya member, married another Knanaya member but was denied a church approval because Biju’s grandmother belonged to another sub-community. Biju’s father OM Uthup, who founded the KCNS, began the legal fight against this practice, questioning the endogamy and the discrimination within the community. After Uthup, the fight was taken up by Joseph.
Another Knanaya member, John Joseph, says that the church is exploiting the helplessness of families who had done everything required of them, by creating last-minute hassles. “They had already postponed the wedding once because the church raised issues. Now again, they created last-minute trouble,” said John, who works closely with the KCNS.
Biju Uthup, who came down from Bengaluru to attend the wedding, said that there are others who have come from far off places for the occasion. “We have sought police protection,” Joseph said.
The Rajapuram police, under whose jurisdiction the Syro Malabar St Xavier’s church falls, are aware of the situation as a complaint has reached them. “The problem is that the final notice of the wedding taking place on Thursday has not been issued by the Knanaya church.This is the first such wedding to take place after the court order, so there is some tension. But other than that, there is no trouble. We will keep an eye out for maintaining law and order in the area,” said Rajapuram Circle Inspector Krishnan.