TIRUVANNAMALAI: In a pathbreaking move,
Hariharapakkam villagers
and residents of a dalit colony in neighbouring Nammandi in Tiruvannamalai district have decided to bury the hatchet and open the doors of the centuries-old village temple to all, irrespective of caste, community and religion.
The temple was sealed two months ago after tension between vanniyars and dalits escalated in the region over entry into the shrine.
Village elders decided to convene a
special grama sabha
meeting on Wednesday to pass a resolution that the Arulmigu Thulukanathamman temple will be open to all.
“We are going to say that people from any caste or community can enter the temple for worship. We are going to pass the resolution to this effect tomorrow (Wednesday),“ village elder Babu told TOI.
Babu was among a group of elders, who met Cheyyar subcollector T Prabhu Shankar on Tuesday and urged to take steps to open the temple. “They have also given a written consent that they will not create any problem or oppose entry of anyone if it is opened,“ said an official, citing the villagers' written agreement.
The lifting of the ban on the entry of dalits into the temple will make history and set a precedent in TN where there are several shrines, which restrict entry of dalits. The ban is as old as the temple itself, said Babu. The presiding deity of the temple is Thulukanathamman, an incarnation of Durga. The temple was sealed on November 25, 2016, to clamp down on communal tension brewing between dalits and vanniyars. Vanniyars had banned the entry of dalits to the temple. “Now, the villagers themselves have come forward to find an amicable solution to the issue,“ said a revenue official, seeking anonymity. The villagers, initially, opposed the officials' effort to take dalits into the temple. In an about-turn, they have now come forward to extend the olive branch and end communal tension.
They took the decision after a group of youths from the vanniyar community broke open the seal and entered the temple on Sunday.It resulted in the arrest of a few of them.
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