- Sreeni Pattathanam
Sreeni Pattathanam is a
rationalist andatheist activist ,writer fromKerala , India.Pattathanam was born in
Kollam ,Kerala inIndia . He began his career as apolice constable, but later took up the job of a primary schoolteacher .Pattathanam was the Editor of "Ranarekha", a monthly in
Malayalam , which ceased publication in 1980s. He was also the secretary of the Kerala state branch ofIndian Rationalist Association . Pattathanam later left IRA and started, with like-minded people, another rationalist association, Bharathiya Yukthivadi Sangham.On
Mata Amritanandamayi Sreeni Pattathanam authored a book, "Matha Amritanandamayi: Divya Kathakalum Yatharthyavum" (Matha Amritanandamayi: Sacred Stories and Realities), which became controversial for the alleged derogatory remarks by the author about Matha Amritanandamayi.
The book contains critical comments about
Mata Amritanandamayi , Mata's personal life, and sexual behaviour. The book also has references tocourt records,newspaper reports andquotation s from some literary figures, and attempts to refute the Matha’s claims tomiracle s and contends that there have been many suspicious deaths in and around herashram , which he says need police investigation.Some of deaths which the author alleges as murders are:
# The suicide of Subhagan alias Sunilkumar, brother of Amrithananda Mayi. The author alleges that Subhagan was beaten to death for opposing the activities of his sister.
# Vellappillil Narayanan Kutty ofKodungallur , an inmate of the Amrithanandamayi Ashram, died onApril 4 ,1990 , due to internalhemorrhage as per postmortem report. He was an employee of Government Bureau of Economics and Statistics,Trichur ,Kerala . ("The New Indian Express",April 19 ,1990 , Kochi, Kerala, India and "Janayugam" aMalayalam dailyApril 22 ,1990 ).
# Pradeep Kumar, a relative of Amrithananda Mayi, died onAugust 16 ,1994 under mysterious circumstances.
# Rumdhur, ahistorian and inmate of the ashram, died onJuly 15 ,2000 within the precincts of the ashram. The ashram authorities did not intimate his death to his friends or his relatives.
# Ramanatha Iyer ofMumbai allegedly committedsuicide by jumping from the 12th floor of Amrithanandamayi Math atVallikkavu onSeptember 5 ,2001 . ("The New Indian Express",September 6 ,2001 , Kochi, Kerala)Advocate Ajan, a devotee of Mata Amrithanandamayi, found these allegations objectionable and asked
Kerala government to prosecute the author for the derogatory and defamatory contents in the book [ [http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/21/stories/2004022107390300.htm The Hindu] ] . Despite pressure from the matt and devotees, Kerala government refused to prosecute the author, but allowed the devotee to file a case for prosecution (government permission is required to move private prosecution in similar cases). There were public protests by International Humanists, IndianRationalist s, writers, and the youth wing of the Indian Communist Party (Marxist) in which the author was an activist, which yielded result.References
#"Matha Amritanandamayi: Divya Kathakalum Yatharthyavum" (Matha Amritanandamayi: Sacred Stories and Realities): Mass Books,
Kollam ,Kerala
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