Guru Pooja in Tamil Nadu: From Tradition to Political Tool

Once a ritual centred on the remembrance of a teacher, guru pooja has over the years entered the political stage.Practised by Hindus on the death anniversary of a mentor, the tradition dates back to the Sangam period, when it was known as ‘Thenpulathaar’, referring to departed souls believed to reside in the southern direction. Poet-saints of the Saivite tradition, including the 63 Nayanmars, and ascetics were venerated in this manner.In the 1960s, politics and the symbolism of guru pooja began to intersect. Popular leaders such as Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar were placed on a par with gods, by followers who considered them their philosophical guide. Guru pooja then became synonymous with Muthuramalinga Thevar for decades.In the past two decades, with the rise of various community welfare associations and the prevalence of social media, which many caste groups believe will give them a leg-up in shaping public perception, guru poojas are celebrated throughout the year. These include the Immanuel Sekaran guru pooja (in memory of the civil rights activist and Indian National Congress party worker), Vanniyar guru pooja (held on the death anniversary of PMK’s Kaduvetti Guru), Marudhu Pandiyar guru pooja and VOC guru pooja. RSS in Tamil Nadu has been celebrating ‘RSS guru pooja’ in memory of the organisation’s founders. The latest addition is the Vijayakant guru pooja in memory of the DMDK founder who died in 2023.While the pooja followed its familiar ritual and fanfare, it drew attention in the context of the upcoming 2026 assembly election. DMDK has not yet announced its position on a poll alliance, and though the party no longer commands the vote share it did in 2006, 2011 and 2016, there is a belief that the party’s presence in an alliance could offer an added edge, given that Vijayakant’s mass appeal remains strong among lower socio-economic groups.“There is no politics in observing the death anniversary of our ‘Captain’ as guru pooja,” says R Mohanraj, DMDK’s propaganda secretary. “He is our guiding star, our guru. It is out of love and loyalty that we observe the day as guru pooja.”He adds that while other parties bring people in vans as a show of strength during the birth and death anniversary events of their leaders, the crowd for Vijayakant is not “orchestrated”. “Our partymen comprise only half the crowd. The rest come because they love him. They bring utensils, cook food and serve those who visit his memorial.”During M G Ramachandran’s rule in 1979, ‘Thevar guru pooja’ received official recognition from the state. From then on, the event has been celebrated as a govt function.“The AIADMK govt’s decision to celebrate Thevar guru pooja as a govt function is one of the reasons a large number of mukkulathor (the umbrella term for the kallar, maravar and agamudaiyar clans of south TN) votes are still cast for the party,” says P Ramajayam, assistant professor, Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion, Bharathidasan University, Trichy.He adds that the coining of the term ‘mukkulathor’ gained prominence during the Dindigul byelection, the first one faced by AIADMK in which K Maya Thevar from mukkulathor community contested against DMK’s Pon Muthu Ramalingam, also from the same community. “Until then, there was a nadar dominance in the south and most were Congress supporters. That dominance was diluted by the social mobilisation of mukkulathor.”The guru pooja celebrated for Muthuramalinga Thevar cannot be seen just as a community function or even as a politically motivated event, says R Sundara Vanthiya Thevan, a Madurai-based author and advocate and author of ‘Piramalai Kallar Vaazhvum Varalaarum’, an ethnographic study of the piramalai kallar community of Tamil Nadu, once labelled a ‘criminal tribe’, and now a denotified community.“Muthuramalinga Thevar said patriotism and spirituality were his two eyes. Though he came from the well-off maravar community, he worked hard for the uplift of criminal tribes. In gratitude, denotified communities began paying respect to him on his death anniversary,” says Thevan.“In the early years, people celebrated his death anniversary as ‘Thevar Jayanthi’. When he was alive, his Forward Bloc party celebrated ‘Netaji Jayanthi’, similar to ‘Gandhi Jayanthi’. The term guru pooja has come into popular parlance only in the past 20 years, particularly after the emergence of caste-based political parties in the 1990s.”