A group of Dalits at Anaiyur Kokkulam village in Madurai district entered a village temple for the first time with police protection on Friday, July 30 to reclaim their dignity and traditional right. According to reports, the Dalits in the area have taken up all routes, including legal ones to finally be allowed inside the temple.
Anaiyur Kokkulam village of Tirumangalam panchayat union is surrounded by six villages. Among all of them, Piramalai Kallars, categorised as Most Backward Class (MBC) are dominant in all the villages. The Arulmigu Karupannaswamy temple also known as Sri Pekkaman Karuppasamy temple is almost 400 years old and is said to be under the control of the Kallars. Although the priest at the temple, Muthiah is a Dalit, other members of his community were restricted from entering the temple and are only allowed to offer prayers from the temple entrance, until now.
On Friday evening in the presence of officials from the Revenue Department and with police personnel in tow, a group of 50 Dalits entered the temple for worship. But as the Dalits entered the temple, members of other communities stayed away including the priest. Reports point out that the priest Muthiah, despite being urged by officials to perform prayers, refused. The officials then called in another person to perform the prayers for Dalits visiting the temple for the first time.
According to reports, Dalits in the village had moved the Madurai bench of Madras High Court earlier requesting entry into the temple. Subsequently the court had ordered the Madurai district administration to facilitate the entry of Dalits into the temple and submit a report on the same.
Following this, on the orders of Madurai Collector S Aneesh Sekhar, officials of Revenue Department including Revenue Divisional Officer and Tahsildar along with police personnel had held several meetings with the villagers for the past one week. When the villagers did not agree, the officials informed them that according to the court order, members of all communities are allowed to enter the Hindu temple. A few elderly men in the village then agreed to allow Dalits after getting ‘approval from god’.
Subsequently, on Friday evening, the villagers including Dalits gathered before the temple. The temple priest who was also present in the meeting suddenly ‘claimed to be under the spell of god’ and said ‘those working against the tradition will be taken care of by me.’ The Dalits finally entered the temple for the first time in the presence of officials and police, rewriting history for future generations.