Dalits enter TN temple for 1st time in over 100 yrs

Aug 3, 2023, 08.09 AM IST

Tiruvannamalai: After being kept out for more than a 100 years, scores of dalit families entered the Mariamman temple in Chellankuppam village of Tiruvannamalai district for the first time on Wednesday. They were protected by a strong police contingent.

Police said people from other communities had not registered any protest so far. A strong police force has been deployed in the village.

The temple entry movement was sparked by fisticuffs between two youths over the issue in July that led to a clash between dalits and vanniyars. The youths, a dalit and a vanniyar, had studied in the same school in the village and then moved to Chennai for jobs. They had first argued on social media over dalits’ right to enter the temple and when they met in the village, they had come to blows.

After this clash, dalits submitted petitions to the district revenue and police officials urging them to ensure their entry into the temple. They declared that they would enter the temple on Wednesday following which a heavy police force led by DIG (Vellore range) M S Muthusamy was posted in the village.

“There is a strong belief that newlywed people offering prayers and cooking pongal in the temple will be granted all they wish for. But we were never allowed to enter the temple. We are happy today that the district officials helped us enter the temple, offer prayers, cook pongal and fulfill our vows,” said a 50-year-old dalit woman.

So far, the dalits had been offering prayers at a Kaliammal temple they had built in the village 30 years ago.

In January this year, dalits had entered another temple in the district, at Thandarampattu village, for the first time with police protection. In June, the administration of neighboring Villupuram district, had sealed the Sri Draupadi Amman temple in Melpathi village as tension mounted after vanniyars denied dalits entry into the shrine.