The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Will the car be pulled together?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 21, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Will the car be pulled together?

S. Vijay Kumar

Dalits were never part of the festival at the Kandadevi temple

MADURAI: : With tension building up around Devakottai in Sivaganga district, the question on everybody's minds is whether Dalits — who were never part of the car-pulling event at Kandadevi Swarnamoortheeswarar Temple — would make history on Tuesday.

For ages, the tradition there has only allowed caste Hindus to play a dominant role and efforts to bring about equal participation in the recent years proved futile.

The ancient temple belongs to `Sivaganga Samasthanam Devasthanam.'

The annual festival is a ten-day event and on the penultimate day a chain measuring about 460 feet (split into four vadams) is tied to the car and pulled around the temple.

At least 150 people can hold on to each of these `vadams.'

History has it that King Kangeya, who ruled the Kandadeva region, conferred on a `Kallar' family of four brothers the honour of pulling the `vadams'.

He also donated four `nadus' — Unjanai, Semponmari, Thennilai and Eravuseni — to the family. Four leaders from these `nadus' would get the first temple honours in the Kandadevi festival.

Though people from different castes had the right to pull the chains, the Dalits were never given a chance.

All was well till 1979 when five Dalits were murdered in Unjanai allegedly by some caste Hindus. In 1997, a Dalit youth was assaulted during the car-pulling event when he tried to hold the chain. This prompted the Puthiya Tamizhagam founder-president, K. Krishnasamy, to move the Madras High Court which ordered that the "public irrespective of caste and creed is permitted to pull the car."

In 1998, this order led to tension in Sivaganga district as caste Hindus were bitter against allowing Dalits taking part in the car-pulling event. Despite efforts by the district administration to arrive at a consensus, the car-pulling event was called off at the last minute.

For four years, the event was not held as the `Nattars' were bent upon keeping the Dalits away. However, in 2002 and 2004, the car was pulled with token representation by a handful of Dalits, which was condemned by various Dalit organisations.

Court order

With the festival scheduled on Tuesday, officials are working round-the-clock to implement the latest order of the Madras High Court "to ensure full participation of Dalits."

The court has also put the onus on the Collector to make sure that its order is not violated.

Though several rounds of talks between the two groups (Dalits and caste Hindus) are over, the officials are still unsure whether the car could be pulled "together."

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