Ayodhya of the south: The Sangh’s southern rehearsal

This is the second part of our story on Thiruparankundram — Ayodhya of the south. Read the first part here.

Murugan (Inter)nationalism

Murugan is the supreme deity of Tamil Hindus — rising above the religious and political contests that have shaped Tamil society — Saivite vs Vaishnavite, Brahmin vs non-Brahmin and now, Dravidian vs Hindutva.

He is known also as Kanda or Skandar, Kumara, Karthikeyan or Karthigai, Dandapani, Palani, Muthu or Muthukumar, Shanmukha or Shanmugam, Saravana and Subramanya. These are also some of the most common names of Tamil men today.

Hindutva leaders, who are mobilising in the name of Murugan, are unhappy with being portrayed as ‘outsiders’ trying to spread an ideology that’s alien to the land of the Cholas, Pandyas and Nakayakkars. Indeed, they see the history of this land as Tamil and Hindu in equal measure. They have billed themselves the true legatees of this Tamil Saivite heritage. 

They are bent on challenging the narrative that the neighbourhood around the Thirupurakundram hill in Madurai is a site of religious harmony. They claim they are vanguards of a historic struggle to reclaim a relic central to Tamil Hinduism.

Professor Raama Sreenivasan, the Madurai-based general secretary of the Tamil Nadu BJP, who met us after the Murugan Maanadu, said that his party and the Sangh started the campaign because Murugan devotees are crying out for help. 

“The most aggrieved devotees are those who live around the hill in Thiruparankundram. They’re the people who have to witness gory animal sacrifices and desecration in one of the holiest sites in Tamil Nadu. They are the custodians of our history. Speak to them.”