Abraham Kovoor Biography 
Abraham Kovoor was an Indian professor and rationalist who conducted many campaigns to expose the frauds of the god-men of India and Sri Lanka. He initiated a new dynamism in the Rationalist movement. He was born on 10th April 1898 in Thiruvalla in Travancore. His father was Rev. Kovoor Eipe Thomma Katthanar, the Vicar General of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar. He studied at Bangabasi College at Calcutta. He spent some days as a junior professor in Kerala. Then he moved to Sri Lanka and worked as a botany professor in several colleges and retired in 1959 from Thurstan College at Colombo.
He devoted his life to the rationalist movement. He spent his days in building up the Ceylon Rationalist Association and was elected as its president in 1960. He served as the editor of the annual journal The Ceylon Rationalist Ambassador. In 1961 he traveled in Europe and established relationship with World Union of Freethinkers. He wrote many articles in magazines and newspapers under the pseudonym of Narcissus. They were published in India by Joseph Edamaruku.
During 1960s and 1970s he travel several times across India and attended hundreds of meetings. In 1976 he visited Sai Baba’s ashram and challenged him for a test for which Baba refused. He wanted to expose the miracles of Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi in Andra Pradesh. He did the same materializing Vibuthi through sleight of hand before the audience. He produced the holy ash from seemingly nowhere and said that anyone could do this by practice.
He was an efficient hypnotherapist and the Malayalam movie Punarjanmam, Tamil movie, Maru Piravi and the Telugu film Ninthakatha were all made on his case dairy. His book God, Demons and Spirits was banned by the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in 2008. He announced an award of Rs.1, 00,000 for anyone that could prove the supernatural power like walking on water, materializing objects, etc. Though some of them tried, they lost their initial deposit amount. After his death, the Indian Rationalist Association continues his Rs. 1, 00,000 challenge.
He died on 18th September 1978 and according to his will, his corpse was donated to medical college for anatomical study and eventually his skeleton was given to the science laboratory of Thurston College. It is still used as a specimen by the science students there.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 12, 2018
