Paper short abstract:

A religious-cult called Dinkoism, popular in social-media and online-groups uses a Soviet-era children's comic book super-hero-figure called `Dinkan' as parody of mainstream religious deities of Islam, Hinduism and Christianity in the Southern-Indian state of Kerala.

Paper long abstract:

Dinkan, the comic superhero mouse was created by an artist named Baby in the now defunct children's magazine called Balamangalam in 1983. Rationalists in Kerala, India have appropriated the mythical aura and entire tropical eco-system surrounding Dinkan to critique and parody mainstream religion in Kerala by creating the quasi-religious cult of Dinkan. Legend says that Dinkan resides in tropical Pankila-forest, in Kerala. As an undisciplined infant, Dinkan was kidnapped by aliens from unspecified planet. They performed tests and imparted divine powers upon him. Dinkan then returned to Pankila-forest to use his strength to save the weak. Hindu vedic chantings and verses of Koran are mimicked by adding Dinkoist elements. `Dinkan, the only God,' `The only religion acceptable in Dinkan is Dinkoism,`Dinkan died for our sins,'`Om !Aham Dinkasmi' are staple memes for Dinkoist provocateurs. In the communally fraught and touchy media space of India and particularly Kerala, the Dinkoists have to perform a tightrope walk to avoid hurting religious sentiments and thus provoking scandal. They mainly use online groups like the `International Chalu Union' and `Troll Malayalam,' each of which has over a million members. Expatriate Keralites and youngsters form the major chunk of content generators. A balance is striven to be struck between all the three mainstream religions. Dinkan is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears a superhero costume, which is subverted to situate the image in Hindu, Muslim and Christian contexts.