Villupuram: On the final day of the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple festival, villagers had just finished the ritual of walking on fired coal when a 21-year-old Dalit man, Kathiravan, entered.
That was 7 April. And Melpathi village has not been the same since. The temple is sealed shut, the region in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram municipality is heavily fortified by the police.
Kathiravan had broken an old rule. Dalits can offer their prayers to the temple deity only on a designated day during the annual ten-day festival that too from outside. Even on non-festival days, Dalits cannot enter the temple.
Dominant caste Hindus beat up Kathiravan and two other Dalit men for ‘defying the rule’, according to the FIR. The Dalit community protested, blocked a road, which led to several rounds of peace talks. While Dalits asserted their right to enter the temple, the dominant Vanniyars, the ‘custodians’ of the temple, resisted this demand. The standoff continued for two months. And then, on 7 June, the government sealed off the temple.
That this unseemly confrontation occurred in Tamil Nadu, a state known for close to ten decades of Periyar’s powerful and transformative social justice politics came as a shock to many Indians. In the 100th year of the historic Vaikom temple entry movement, Kathiravan’s act reinforced the fragile and incremental nature of social change. It has come down to our god our temple’ for some. The temple entry movement continues to be a work in progress in some places.
“It is definitely an unfortunate incident,” said DMK spokesperson A Saravanan, adding that the government was trying to ensure everyone had access to the temple. “When that was resisted, the temple was sealed. The government cannot use strong-arm tactics. It is taking cautious, firm steps to ensure no one is discriminated against,” he said.
The Tamil Nadu Temple Entry Authorisation Act of 1947 allows all Hindu castes and classes to enter Hindu temples and worship. For around five decades, Tamil Nadu has been governed by parties espousing the Dravidian ideology—the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)—one of the focal points of which is dismantling Brahminical hegemony.
Yet, in the past five months, there have been at least four cases in Tamil Nadu where members of the Scheduled Castes were denied entry into Hindu temples or had to enter forcibly.
On 2 January, around 250 Dalits entered the two-centuries-old Sri Varadharaja Perumal temple at Eduthavainatham village in Kallakurichi district for the first time — with the help of 300 police personnel who had been deployed for their protection. That same month in Tiruvannamalai district’s Thenmudiyanur village, a group of Dalits entered the Sri Muthalamman temple for the first time since the temple’s construction 70 years ago.
On 14 April, a week after the Melpathi temple issue, revenue officials sealed off the Mazhai Mariamman temple in Alampallam in Thanjavur district after the dominant Vellalars, a sub-sect of the Gounders, wouldn’t let Dalit villagers enter the temple during its consecration on 23 February. Dalits residents approached the district collector, who ensured their entry. But it came at a price.
“A meeting was held where the dominant caste members decided they wouldn’t give any work to Dalits. They also asked for any loans that were given to them to be returned immediately,” village panchayat president C Umarani told ThePrint.
Umarani, a Dalit, said that even though she is the village president, she is not consulted regarding any decisions.
Such incidents of discrimination are common in Tamil Nadu and often go unreported. The Melpathi village issue received national attention mainly because the dominant caste villagers threatened self-immolation if Dalits were allowed entry into the temple. Last week, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPI(Marxists), and the Dravidar Kazhagam led a protest march in Chennai after the Viluppuram temple was sealed off, demanding action against those involved in caste-based discrimination.
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A segregated village
Melpathi is home to about 250 families, majority of whom are Gounders—an economically and politically dominant caste—while the rest are Adi Dravidars, the Scheduled Castes. Dalits claim that Gounders practise discrimination in subtler ways, such as segregating the village into ‘main area’ and ‘colony’, the latter denoting clusters of Dalit households.
The narrow road leading to Melpathi village, adorned with lush green agricultural land, has been blocked by multiple barricades and police checkpoints. The Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple serves as an unofficial gateway to the village. Eight grey pillars form the main mandapa of the 250-year-old temple, and on either side of the entrance, large statues of Karthikeya and Hanuman stand tall.
“When Kathiravan tried to enter the temple, he was stopped and subjected to caste-based slurs. When his parents arrived at the scene, they too were beaten up. We organised a roadblock protest, and the police and district authorities assured us of seeking a resolution,” said 52-year-old M Vetrivel who belongs to the Adi Dravidar community.
Kathiravan, originally hailing from Melpathi but studying and residing in a neighbouring district, had returned to his ancestral village for the temple festival. Villagers say that he left Melpathi a day or two after the incident, and his parents have also been absent from home since then.
“We [Dalit community] collect Rs 1 lakh and pay for the seventh day of festivities, yet we are not allowed inside the temple or even get close to the deity when it is brought out for procession around the village,” said Varalakshmi, Vetrivel’s neighbour.
P Seetharaman and his family, who belong to the dominant Vaniyar caste, have been involved in the temple administration work and rituals for the past three generations. Seetharaman, who has been the dharmakartha or the supervisor of the temple for the past 40 years, was not present when the conflict occurred. While he believes that Kathivaran shouldn’t have entered the temple he also condemns the reaction of the Vanniyars. “The temple belongs to the Vanniyars. This incident should’ve been treated like a mistake,” he said.
The Vanniyars have been asserting that this temple is a private place of worship. Dayanidhi, who belongs to the family of Ubyadarars (caretakers) responsible for the sixth day of the festivities of the temple’s 10-day festival, insisted that there are documents to prove that this is a private temple. “Survey number 65 (of the land records) shows that one Chinnasamy Narayan, son of Perumal, paid 60 cents to build the temple. The land documents are from 1901 stating who has to manage the temple’s daily activities. We, descendants, are now following it,” he claimed.
Seetharaman, 73, said he has been avoiding visitors since the temple was sealed. “He has not been well. He is heartbroken,” added his wife. He has spent his whole life taking care of the temple and now he is struggling to cope with it being sealed, she said.
Seetharaman, who lives a short five-minute walk away from the temple, did not want to speak about the recent controversy but opened up about the temple’s history. “The Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple is dedicated to the Pandavas and Draupadi. This temple was constructed by people who came from Gingee [a panchayat town in Villupuram],” he said. The temple has nine Ubyadarars, all belonging to the Vanniyar community who claim it to be their ancestral temple.
The temple has two important festivals, one called the Dharmaraja, which happens every 60 years, and another is the annual 10-day festival.
As per the village’s tradition, the nine caretaker communities of the temple are given the right to perform the rituals and bring the deity out of the temple for a procession during the yearly festival. The seventh day of the festival is for the Adi Dravidars to offer their prayers, but without entering the temple or performing any rituals.
Last year, during the Dharmaraja festival, hundreds of people from the neighbouring villages and districts had come to the Melpathi temple. “At that time everyone except for those who live in this colony was allowed inside,” Varalakshmi said.
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Seven rounds of talks
The Gounders and Adi Dravidars have not managed to broker peace over the last 60 days, even after official intervention by the Collector, Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Revenue officials, MP, MLA and the local panchayat leader.
The Villupuram District collector C Palani described the 7 April incident as a result of the tension between two small groups of people and not as a caste clash. He said the SCs were pacified and assured by the district SP, DSP, RDO and other senior officials who reached the spot when they blocked the roads in protest that they will be given access to the temple.
The district administration also informed the dominant caste members of the legal provisions regarding temple entry. Five rounds of talks were conducted by the Revenue Divisional Officer and then two rounds of talks by the Collector. In the second round of talks by the collector in the last week of May, the dominant caste Hindus had agreed to permit the SC villagers into the temple. “But a few from their [the dominant caste Hindus] community objected and they went back on their decision to allow Dalits,” said the collector.
After this refusal, the district administration gave the villagers till June 7, another week, to arrive at a favourable solution. But when the dominant caste Hindus continued to stick to their stance, District Revenue Divisional Officer S Ravichandran brought nearly 2,000 police personnel and sealed the temple under Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which deals with land disputes amid a likelihood of breach of peace.
There are ongoing hearings regarding the matter. The first of which took place on 9 June. The collector said there is no deadline for providing a solution, and it will only happen after all the hearings take place.
But the Adi Dravidar community said that the dominant caste Hindus have maintained a consistent stand throughout these discussions—the god is ours, not yours.
‘Our God, our temple’
Untouchability and caste-based exclusion are punishable offences under the Indian Penal Code, but in many villages in Tamil Nadu, and across the country, it is still practised with impunity.
“During peace talks, the [dominant] caste Hindus were saying openly, on camera and before all the district officials, that they won’t allow them [Dalits] because ‘if they are allowed they might touch us’,” said Villupuram MP and DMK member, D Ravikumar.
To Dalits, the statements made by the dominant caste Hindus do not come as a shock. The Adi Dravidars said that except for a few, most caste Hindus would not even invite them inside their homes, or give them water. These are all unsaid rules, passed down through generations, they say.
After the temple issue, the Dalit women said that dominant caste Hindus withdrew their children from school as Dalit children were also attending classes.
“Keeping untouchability as a base is how they (dominant caste Hindus) have kept us away from the temple,” Vetrivel said.
The Vanniyars claim that the FIR filed against 18 people is “fake.” They have filed a case in the Madras High Court asserting their right over the temple.
“If 18 people attacked them, do you think they would be alive? They have filed cases against 18 people including against a man who is not even alive now,” said Dayanidhi Kamaraj, a member of the Vanniyar community.
Last month, when representatives of the Scheduled Castes from the village brought the issue to the state’s higher education minister, K Ponmudy, he said the temple fell under the state-owned Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) and assured them of equal access to the temple. The Vanniyars and other Gounders, however, protested against the minister by throwing their ration, voter, and Aadhaar cards outside the temple. Three members of the community reportedly threatened to self-immolate if Dalits were allowed to enter the temple.
District Collector Palani says there are two issues to sort out — one with regards to the ownership of the temple, and the second about the entry of Dalits.
The HR&CE’s list of temples under its control mentions the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple as being under the department’s control since 1978. But, the Vanniyars from the village said that in the 45 years since the HR&CE claimed its hold on the temple, it has neither appointed any trustees nor undertaken any maintenance work.
MP Ravikumar said that this is no basis for caste discrimination.
“In the 43,000-odd temples which fall under the HR&CE, only 480 temples have trustees appointed. Karunanidhi did a lot of work democratising temples. This government should come forward to democratise the temple in the ongoing centenary year of Kalaignar otherwise Sanatana forces who are attempting to capture the temples will succeed,” the MP added.
Scheduled Castes villagers of Melpathi said that by and large, they have been living in harmony with the dominant caste Hindus. But, their quest for equality in the right to worship has been forever elusive.
Kathiravan, for instance, was best friends with a dominant caste Hindu.
“But, when he entered the temple, this friend was the first to question and oppose him. He saw Kathiravan’s caste over their friendship,” Varalakshmi said.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)