Tracing the struggle for temple entry in Tamil Nadu Premium

On January 2, 2023 around 250 Dalits entered the temple and offered worship with the protection of the police and the district administration

2023, the New Year started with hope for Dalits of Eduthavainatham village in Kallakurichi district as they entered the Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple there for the first time. Despite being under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of Tamil Nadu, the temple remained out of reach for the Dalits.

On January 2, while around 250 Dalits entered the temple and offered worship with the protection of the police and the district administration, it remains to be seen whether they will continue to use the temple without any opposition from the caste Hindus. Last year, the Dalit panchayat president of the village V. Sudha alleged that she was prevented from hoisting the national flag at the local government school on Republic day, indicating the presence of caste discrimination in the village.

The issue in Eduthavainatham regarding temple entry is not an isolated one in Tamil Nadu, which continues to witness struggles, big and small, of Dalits trying to assert their right to enter, worship and participate in festivals in many temples against backlash from caste Hindus.

The struggle for castes considered “avarnas” by the Hindu orthodoxy to enter temples, especially the ones maintained under Agama traditions, can be traced even back to the 7th-8th century AD with the tribulations faced by Nandanar, a Dalit, in entering Chidambaram Natarajar Temple, as documented in the Bhakti literature.

In modern history, one of the earliest documented temple entry struggles in present day Tamil Nadu were the attempts made by the Nadar community in the second half of 19th century in multiple places, especially in the southern region, where they faced severe discrimination despite making economic progress.

“The economic rise of the Nadar community and their attempts to achieve a social status commensurate with their new economic position inevitably brought the community into conflict with the higher castes,” says Robert L Hardgrave, Jr, in his book The Nadars of Tamilnad — The Political Culture of a Community in Change, published in 1969.

The book documents various struggles mounted by Nadars, mainly by the elite section of the community, to earn the right to worship in temples, which were unsuccessful and often ended up in violence.