Kashi Tamil Sangamam 4.0: Deepening Civilizational Bonds Between Varanasi and Tamil Nadu

Esaki Muthu, a bank employee from Chennai, is back in Chennai after attending the Kashi Tamil Sangamam (KTS) at Namo Ghat in Varanasi. But his thoughts, he says, haven’t left the banks of the Ganga — the call of boatmen, the twinkle of the oil lamps at the evening aarti. “I could spend days sitting on the ghats. Kashi was not new to me, but it was my first time at KTS. I was far from home, yet felt so at home,” says the 52-year-old.One of the reasons Muthu felt so at home, perhaps, was that he was one of the nearly 2,500 people from Tamil Nadu at KTS 4.0, which ran through Dec 2025. An initiative of the Union Ministry of Education, with IIT Madras and Benaras Hindu University as academic partners, the event aimed to showcase a historic civilizational bond between Varanasi and Tamil Nadu. “The footfall was double what we saw in the first edition,” says divisional commissioner S Ramalingam.Around 1,400 official delegates, including students, teachers, farmers, artisans, writers and spiritual scholars, took part in daily programmes, while more than 1,000 others travelled independently from various districts. “That response shows how strongly Tamils continue to identify with Kashi,” says R Chandrasekaran, director of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil.“There are 452 Kashi Vishwanatha temples in Tamil Nadu,” says Chandrasekaran. “You will also find mention of the word Kashi in Tamil epics such as ‘Manimekalai’. Subramaniya Bharati, the greatest of modern Tamil poets, lived in Kashi for a while during his younger days in his aunt’s house named ‘Sivamath’, and recalled his experience in his writings including the short story, ‘Aril Oru Panku’. So, yes, there is a huge connection that KTS brings to the fore.” To add to the culture connect, Kashi is also home to the Sri Kasi Nattukottai Nagara Satram in Sigra, a 19th-century rest house run by the Chettiar community, which is where many Tamil visitors stay.Lena Narayanan, president, says boarding costs are kept to a minimum here. “South Indian vegetarian tiffins and meals are provided to the guests at `70.” Established in 1863, the satram, with its pink walls, checkerboard floors, and cosy courtyard, makes every guest feel like they are back in the Tamil heartland.As Union minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar put it, KTS marked an “unbroken cultural circuit”. “Kashi bows at the feet of Baba Vishwanath, while Tamil Nadu carries forward the same tradition of devotion from Rameswaram.” (The writer was in Varanasi at the invitation of the Union ministry of education)