Hassan Palakkode
Encyclopedia
Palakkode K. Hassan also known as Kamal Hassan and Hassan Palakkode is a Malayali
Malayali
Malayali is the term used to refer to the native speakers of Malayalam, originating from the Indian state of Kerala...

 writer from Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 who converted to Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

. He has been a contributor to many religious periodicals in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Hassan belongs to Palakkod village in Palakkad district, Kerala. He completed a five year course darz, but did not work as a maulvi.

Hassan is the first in the state to change faith. His adoption of a new name Kamal Hassan evokes memories of a recent high profile conversion in the state-that of noted writer Kamala Das into Surayya.

Palakkode embraced Hinduism on March 30, 2000 along with a Christian lady and another Muslim man. The ceremony, organised by the state unit of the Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena , is a political party in India founded on 19 June 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray...

, was held at the famous . It was attended by sanyasis from several ashrams.

The conversion ceremony could not be held at his home village due to a threat made to his life after he announced his decision to embrace Hinduism.

Prior to his conversion, Palakkode said in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...

that it was not a spur of the moment decision and that he had been thinking of embracing Hinduism since 1998. He had also attracted the wrath of Muslim fundamentalists for writing secular articles and questioning polygamy.

Palakkode is the only member of his family to become a Hindu and said that though he had embraced hinduism, he would never force his parents, wife, children or brothers to change faith. He would try his best to cooperate with them.

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