The Kandadevi temple car, which came to a halt in 1998 after Dalits asserted their rights to draw it, has been at the centre of a controversy ever since it rolled out with four ‘vadams’ (ropes) meant for caste Hindus more than 200 years ago.
The controversy refused to die down even after Mahatma Gandhi attempted to broker peace between the ‘Nattars’ (Kallars) and Dalits during his visit to Devakottai on January 28, 1934. At his meeting with the ‘Nattars,’ Gandhi appealed to them to “do justice to the Harijans and treat them kindly as brothers.” This year’s Aani (June-July) festival of the Sri Swarnamurtheeswarar Temple, popularly known as the Kandadevi temple, began on Wednesday. The 10-day main festival began with the flag hoisting after the Madras High Court had cleared the decks a fortnight ago.
The festival is expected to pass off peacefully as the Madurai Bench had denied permission for the pulling of the car and according special honours to the Ambalams (heads) of four ‘Nadus’.
“We have made all efforts to ensure that the festival is held peacefully in compliance with the court order,” Superintendent of Police Ashwin M. Kotnis told The Hindu . He said 120 police personnel, including a company of the Tamil Nadu Special Police, were deployed.
Dravidian leader P.R. Chandran, who has researched the issue extensively, said the temple was built during the period of Nambi Pallavarayan, about 1,000 years ago, and the car festival witnessed the first major law and order problem in 1875, when eight people were killed in a clash.
After the British intervened, the car was entrusted with the Devakottai Zamin in 1895, but the ‘Natars’ got it back a year later and resumed the car festival. “The festival had been held every year since 1896, but not without clashes and controversies after cultural and societal changes started taking place,” Mr. Chandran says in his book Porum Therum .
Since time immemorial, only the ‘Nattars’ or ‘Ambalams’ of four ‘Nadus’ — Iruvaseri, Unjanai, Semponmari and Thennilai — were allowed to pull the car, while Dalits were asked to push it from behind, whenever it got stuck, he says in the book.
Dalit Viduthalai Koottamaippu leader V. Karunanidhi said: “We oppose the recognition of ‘Nattars’ and ‘Nadus,’ which are symbols of slavery and discrimination against Dalits.” Though Dalits took part in the festival, they were not given a free hand in pulling the car, and in the performance of ‘Mandagapadi’ (a puja performed at the temple during the festival), he said.
Denying discrimination, M. Athmanathan, Kandadevi Nattu Ambalam (under the Unjaini Naadu), said the ‘Nattars’ wholeheartedly accepted the participation of Dalits in the car festival, and it was unfortunate that some vested interests had kicked up a row.
