Dasara is celebrated in this town in the same grandeur as it is celebrated in Mysuru ever since Thirumalai Nayak gave Ragunatha Sethupathi the privilege of celebrating the festival, more than 350 years ago. When Ragunatha Sethupathi, the king of Ramnad, helped Thirumalai Nayak, the greatest of the 13 Madurai Nayak rulers in the 17th century, to defeat Kanthirava Narasa Raja, the ruler of Mysore kingdom in 1658-59, little he would have imagined that his kingdom would inherit the privilege of celebrating the major Hindu festival.
“The history is very interesting,” recalls ‘Viking’ M.S. Karunanidhi, historian and vice-president of Tamil Sangam. When the aged Thirumalai Nayak (1623-1659) was on his sickbed, the Mysore King, who was looking for an opportunity to settle scores with him, invaded Madurai Kingdom and he was all set to capture the kingdom.
Desperate for help, the queen sent a secret note to Sethupathi to save her ‘thali’ (mangalsutra) and the Marava chieftain responded swiftly with a force of 25,000 warriors in a short span of time. In the fierce battle, the Maravas, ably assisted by the Nayak army, drove away the Mysore army.
The Sethupathi saved Madurai and the delighted Nayak honoured the Sethupathi with many presents and titles. The Nayak King was generous to give him the honorific title ‘Thirumalai Sethupathi’. The Sethupathi was also called ‘Rani sol Kathaar’ and ‘Rani Mangalyam Kathaar’, recalls Mr. Karunanidhi.
The golden idol of Durga Devi with an emerald pedestal from the Mysore King and and the privilege of celebrating the Dasara festival turned out to be the most important gift the Nayak gave to the Sethupathi, he says. It happened in 1659, and since then, Ramanathapuram Samasthanam Devasthanam has been celebrating the festival, he says. The furious Durga Devi was softened by the Sringeri chief priest and is being worshipped as Sri Rajarajeswari Amman, he said.
“We are celebrating the festival for more than 350 years following the legacy of Ragunatha Sethupathi,” Rani Sethupathi RBK Rajeswari Nachiyar, the hereditary trustee of the Devasthanam, Raja N. Kumaran Sethupathi and Rani Lakshmi Kumaran Sethupathi said.
The 10-day festival began on a colourful note on Thursday. After a series of programmes focussing on ‘Iyal, Isai and Natakam’, the three branches of Tamil art, the festival would draw to a close on Vijayadasami on September 30, when Rajarajeswari Amman would be taken in a procession in ‘Simha vaganam’ as ‘Mahishasuramarthini’ to kill the demon with arrows, they said.
In the colourful procession, the Goddess would be accompanied by presiding deities of the various temples in the town to celebrate the victory of good over evil at ‘Magaranonbu thidal’ on the outskirts of the town, they said.
