MADURAI: Madurai has always been a beacon of communal harmony. The heart of the city, Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, is fortified by business establishments owned by Muslims. Hindus regularly offer prayers at the St. Mary’s Cathedral on East Veli Street and Kaja Syed Sultan Allaudin Dargah at Goripalayam. Muslims offer sandal paste to participants of ‘kavadi’ procession to the Subramaniaswamy Temple at Tirupparankundram during Karthigai and Panguni festivals.
As a reaffirmation of this tradition, a 10-year-old student of Seventh Day Adventists’ Higher Secondary School, S. I. Abdul Basha, performed yogasana with lighted Karthigai lamps placed all over his body at a function organised here on Saturday.
The demonstration was held to create awareness of communal harmony, said S. Suresh Kumar, yoga master and founder of Swami Vivekananda Yoga and Skating Kazhagam, which conducted the event.
“His parents have been encouraging him to learn yoga. He is going to participate in the national yoga meet to be held in Karnataka in January,” said Mr. Suresh. According to the yoga master, yoga exercises had helped Abdul Basha in shedding shyness and developing a strong will.
Sheik Ibrahim, Abdul Basha’s father who owns an advertising agency, said that he had been encouraging his son to learn yoga as he showed a keen interest in it.
