ABSTRACT
Chapter 13, under the theme, Society, discusses the impact of the pandemic on the religious institutions in Kerala, a province in India often held as a leading model of the developmental state. Using a range of methods including fieldwork and a reading of newspapers, government policies as well as advisories by religious establishments, the chapter highlights how a number of these places coped with the pandemic. What is important in the chapter is how these religious palaces have faced intense politicisation of government advisories despite basing them on scientific evidence.
