5 months ago
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When a enactment broke retired implicit lighting of the Karthigai Deepam at the Thirupparankundram hill in Madurai 30 years ago, four Sthaneeka Bhattars of the famed Subramaniaswami Temple had testified that the lamp had been lit astatine the Uchipillaiyar Temple since “time immemorial”. The Bhattars conveyed this successful a connection written to the temple authorities against the backdrop of a raging enactment implicit the Hindu Munnani’s demand for lighting the deepam at a antithetic place.
The Hindu Munnani had archetypal placed the request successful 1994 erstwhile it said its members excessively wanted to airy the lamp astatine the Thirupparankundram hill for Karthigai Deepam. However, that year, Justice J. Kanagaraj of the Madras High Court had, by an interim order, directed that the lamp beryllium lit astatine the accustomed spot by the temple authorities alone. He passed a akin bid the pursuing twelvemonth too.
Charge denied
In 1995, the Hindu Munnani claimed that the Moksha Deepam (in representation of departed souls) and the Karthigai Deepam were being lit astatine the aforesaid place. However, the Bhattars denied this complaint and insisted that it was being lit astatine the accustomed spot atop the gathering down the Uchipillaiyar Temple. “This was not that spot wherever Moksha Deepam utilized to beryllium lit. They said they had been told by their ancestors that astatine nary clip successful their surviving representation was the Karthigai Deepam lit successful the chromatic ‘Deepa Sthampam’ adjacent the Dargah atop the temple,” they said successful their letter, according to a study published in The Hindu dated December 6, 1995. “They besides said the Karthigai Deepam was lit this twelvemonth arsenic besides successful the past successful the accepted spot and arsenic stipulated successful Agama Sastras and successful accordance with the temple custom,” the study added.
That year, Karumuthu T. Kannan, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sri Subramaniaswami Temple, besides issued a connection denying the claims of Hindu Munnani leaders that the Devasthanam was lighting the Karthigai Deepam in a spot wherever the Moksha Deepam used to beryllium lit. This assertion “was acold from true”.
Kannan, who was a well-known industrialist, said the Karthigai Deepam was lit connected apical of the “Deepa Sigaram” implicit a masonry level erected for the intent and this was adjacent to the Uchipillaiyar Temple. “This was the spot wherever the Deepam was being lit by the temple authorities from times immemorial. We person to emphasise that determination is nary grounds oregon grounds successful the temple to the contrary. The Moksha Deepam used to beryllium lit successful a spot good beneath this site,” helium said.
‘Conspicuously absent’
According to different contemporaneous study in The Hindu, radical who utilized to throng the temple for the Karthiga festival successful ample numbers “were conspicuously absent this twelvemonth besides owed to the contention implicit the issue”. People from the adjacent villages were seen moving astir the municipality but the locals mostly stayed astatine home.
