The historic car festival of Sri Swarnamurtheeswarar Temple, popularly known as Kandadevi Temple, mired in a raging controversy after Dalits asserted their rights to draw the car in 1998, would be missing this year too during the ongoing Aani festival.
The 10-day festival, which began with flag hoisting on June 11, is set to culminate on the tenth day on Monday but without the famous car festival for yet another year. Four giant iron wheels made ready by BHEL are lying outside the temple, gathering dust, as the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department is yet to make the car ready .
When the matter was taken up before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in 2014, the HR and CE department took a stand that the car was under repair and the festival could be held only after the repair works were carried out. The High Court gave one year time for repairing, but the car could not be readied even after two years.
The Sivaganga Samasthanam, which maintains the temple, has sent a proposal to the HR and CE Commissioner, seeking Rs. 35 lakh for the renovation, saying that the car would be made ready for next year temple festival, Ilangovan, Samasthanam Manager, told The Hindu . The ‘vigrahams’ were in good shape and only the structure had to be rebuilt, he said. The villagers, however, were sceptical.
Festivity was missing in the picturesque village on Thursday, the sixth day of the festival, and only a few villagers from four ‘Nadus’ -- Iruvaseri, Unjanai, Semponmari and Thennilai, which had the traditional right to pull the car -- were present in the temple. The district administration posted police pickets as a precautionary measure to avert trouble.
“Only time owes an answer,” said K. Subramanian (77) from Unjanai Nadu.
He was upset that the car festival, which was part of the temple festival for over two centuries, could not be held for the past few years.
He would not tolerate the traditional right of Nattars of four Nadus drawing the car with four ‘vadams’ (ropes) infringed upon in any manner. Dalits were free to visit the temple and offer worship but the four ‘vadams’ were only meant for them, he asserted.
The temple festival lost its charm in the absence of the car festival and the villagers had made repeated representations to the Samasthanam and HR and CE department to make ready the car at the earliest, A. Murugan, Kandadevi panchayat president, said.
The authorities deliberately delayed the repair works as they did not want to take any risk, he charged.
