Chennai: 50 Dalits at Anaiyur Kokkulam village in Madurai district entered a 400-year-old temple in their village for the first time with police protection yesterday, July 30.
Legal battle
This event is the result of years’ long legal battles of the Dalits community to reclaim their dignity and traditional right. They took all the possible legal assistance to finally be allowed inside the temple.
The flag-bearer
Recently, a Dalit man from Anaiyur Kokkulam village had approached the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court seeking permission to enter the temple. Consequently, the court ordered the district administration to take action and conduct an investigation, however, the Pirmalai Kallar, who are dominant in all the six villages in Tirumangalam panchayat union including Anaiyur Kokkulam village refused the blame for preventing Dalits from entering.
A historic entry
On Friday evening, July 30, a group of 50 Dalit people from the village finally got entry into the temple for the first time in 400 years since the temple was built. There was a large number of police officers and officials from the Revenue Department present when Dalits entered the temple to pay obeisance.
However, as the Dalits entered the temple, people of other communities avoided them including the priest. Temple priest Muthiah refused to perform prayers despite being urged by the officials. The officers then asked another person to perform the puja for Dalits to enter the temple for the first time.
Kallars dominance
The Arulmigu Karupannaswamy (it’s also known as Sri Pekkaman Karuppasamy) temple is said to be around 400 years old and is under the dominance of the Kallars community in the villages. Though the temple has a Dalit priest at the temple, yet the community refused entry at the temple and is only allowed to offer prayers from the temple entrance, until Friday.
They conceded
On the orders of Madurai Collector S Aneesh Sekhar, officials of Revenue Department, Revenue Divisional Officer, and Tahsildar along with police personnel jointly had several meetings with the villagers and discussed the matter for the past one week. When the Kallar community did not agree, the officials took the help of a court order to persuade the saying members of all communities are allowed to enter the Hindu temple.
History rewritten
On Friday evening, the villagers including Dalits gathered before the temple. The Dalits finally entered the temple for the first time in the presence of officials and police and put the years of discrimination to a full stop and rewriting history for future generations.