Tamil Nadu Archaeology Dept 'Survey' Adds New Twist To Madurai Temple Row: What Is The Crisis All About?

A decades-old religious ritual at a temple in Madurai has sparked a major political and legal storm in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, stemming from a single court decision allowing the lighting of the traditional Karthigai Deepam lamp at a stone pillar located close to a dargah.

The Tamil Nadu archaeology department is the newest entrant in the row surrounding the lighting of the ritual lamp at the deepathoon

(stone pillar) of the Subramaniya Swamy temple on Thiruparankundram hill.

Even as the Madras High Court allowed a heavily restricted “peaceful fasting” protest by local residents, who are demanding the ritual be permitted, on December 11, the state’s archaeology department conducted an official survey of the stone pillar. This immediately drew legal

objections from petitioners, who argued that the state was improperly generating new evidence while the matter was sub judice.

The Thiruparankundram hill in Madurai is a site revered for both its historic Subramaniya Swamy temple and the nearby Sikkander Badusha dargah.