Adi Dravidars seek temple car procession through their hamlet in Tiruvannamalai

Tension in Thondamanur village over temple car procession dispute between communities, police presence to prevent untoward incidents.

Tension gripped Thondamanur village, around 10 km from Thandrampet town in Tiruvannamalai on Tuesday, after members of the Adi Dravidar community demanded that the village panchayat allow the temple car procession into their colony as part of Aadi month festival. Caste Hindus had objected to it.

Residents said that the existing Mariamman Temple was built on a 25-cent plot near Then Pennai river a decade ago after differences arose between residents in Thondamanur and Agarampallipattu villages over conducting the annual common temple festival.

Till then, devotees in Thondamanur, who did not have a temple in their village, used to worship at the temple in Agarampallipattu. “After differences arose between them, Thondamanur residents of all communities including Dalits and Vanniyars came together to build a temple for themselves in their village. It was built on land donated by a Dalit named Ramasamy, who was the previous panchayat president,” said 58-year-old R. Annamalai, a local CPI(M) activist.

Residents belonging to all communities in the village, led by Pandurangan from Vanniyar community pooled their resources to build the temple.Located at the foothills, the village depends on paddy cultivation with the majority of them being farmers and agricultural labourers.

“We have spoken to both communities to defuse tension for the welfare of the village. Like before, Dalits were allowed to do pujas in the temple on Tuesday as part of Aadi month festival. It has eased the situation further,” Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian told The Hindu.

During its initial years, residents said, the temple was open to all communities. Slowly, caste Hindus objected to SCs visiting the temple. After a series of peace meetings between them, they were allowed to worship at the temple, especially after COVID-19. They could perform pujas and cook pongal during the festival. 

Officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR&CE) said the temple was brought under their (HR&CE) control a few days ago after a section of caste Hindus locked it when SCs demanded the procession through their colony. They said that, as per tradition each community in the village performed the rituals every Tuesday during the month of Aadi. It was followed by a temple car procession on key roads in the village in the evening (Tuesdays) to allow families of all communities to worship the deity.