TEMPLE ENTRY
TEMPLE ENTRY OF THE OPPRESSED: A STEP TOWARDS CASTE ERADICATION
For the first time in a hundred years, dalits of Chettipulam village stepped
inside the local Shiva temple on Tuesday 27 October in a historic moment
brought about by government and political intervention.
Escorted by revenue and police officers, nearly 70 dalits of the village situated near Vedaraynyam in Nagapattinam district entered the century-old Kamatchi Amman Sametha Ekambareswarar Temple around 11 am and offered prayers for 25 minutes. Dressed in their best, women had brought flowers and other offerings. A group of non-dalits, including panchayat president V.Manimaran, also accompanied the dalits. District Collector C.Munianathan himself distributed prasadam to the dalits after the prayers.
“It is a historic day for us. For decades, we were barred from entering the temple. All we could do for generations was to stand 10 feet away from the temple entrance and offer prayers”, said Nandan alias N.Natarajan, a dalit labourer. He and other dalits were greeted by non-dalits inside the temple.
The dalits here had earlier made three attempts to enter the temple. On September 30, they found it locked. The next day they were arrested when they tried to break the lock. On October 14, when Nagapattinam revenue divisional officer, Rajendran led the dalits towards the temple, violence broke out as non-dalits started pelting stones. Police fired warning shots in the air and resorted to a lathi charge.
A tripartie meeting involving non-dalits, dalits and government officials was held on Monday. It was decided there that the dalits would be taken into the temple on Tuesday. A large of posse of police personnel was deployed in the village. On Tuesday morning, a police vehicle picked up dalits from their doorsteps and took them to the temple, the collector ushered them in. Thanjavur range DIG Abbay Kumar Singh and SPs of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur were also present.
“The dalits need not worry about their safety in the village. They can enter the temple and offer prayers without fear. The district administration will ensure that they are not stopped from entering the temple” said Munianathan. Police would be stationed in the village for a few more days, he said.
Temple entry, a popular form of resistance against social oppression is not new to Tamil Nadu. Even a decade prior to the famous entry into the renowned Meenakshi temple in Madurai by Congress leader A.Vaidyanatha Iyer in 1939, the leaders of Periyar’s Self respect movement - JS Kannappar in Tiruvannamalai in 1926, followed by KAP Viswanatham and JN Ramanathan the next year and Kuthoosi Gurusamy in 1929 - had made such attempts.
Yet, the right of entry is being denied to dalits in hundreds of temples in rural parts. The discrimination based on birth has not spared even churches. Caste violence broke out in Eraiyur in Villupuram district in 2006 when dalit Christians resisted discrimination against them by Vanniyar Christians.
P.Sampath, leader of the Untouchability Eradication Front, says , the main forms of discrimination prevalent in the state are the dual-tumbler system in tea stalls, denial of entry in village temples and burial grounds, and denial of access to various public utilities.
Punitha Pandiyan, editor of ‘Dalit Murasu’ magazine, argues that caste-based discrimination is deep-rooted across the state, even though its degree may vary from one place to another. “Go to any village, you can find a ‘cheri’ (dalit colony) on the fringes. Media has the tendency to report untouchability only when it becomes a law and order problem or is taken up by parties, but the fight by dalits largely goes unnoticed,” he says. “From Varnashrama dharma, seen as the cornerstone of Hinduism, such injustice flows. Periyar attacked the root cause of the caste system and created a strong base for an alternative ideology” says Pandian.
Writer AS Panneerselvan argues that the government has its limitations in ending a social evil in vogue for centuries. “The prevalence of caste discrimination is a localised issue in specific pockets and not a state-wide general phenomenon. Many dalits have been fielded and have won in general constituencies here. It is not an issue concerning dalits alone but a larger one in which the vertical pyramid of caste hiearchy has not yet been shaken fully,” he says.
The Constitution of India has not abolished caste; it legally recognizes the caste system. Only ‘untouchability’ is abolished, leaving the root, cutting the branches.
In order to make people of all communities living harmoniously together, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu formulated the scheme of creation of Samathuvapurams The Dravidian movement encourages the intercaste marriages. Total eradication of this deep rooted evil of caste system is not so easy and a long and sustained fight has to be undertaken for this purpose.
