Ongoing dominance of Dikshitars in Thillai Natarajah temple: The self-respecting Tamilians won’t tolerate it anymore!
History was that Nandanar and Vallalar, who believed in Lord Shiva, were burnt to death by the Brahmin mob. Arumugasamy was the only person who escaped from them. Because Lord Shiva did not save the Sivanadiyar, it was ‘Red’ that saved him.
“When will the day come up when Sri Ranganathan and Thillai Natarajan be blown with a cannon?” asked Bharathidasan, the revolutionary poet. It is an expression of the feeling of self-respect and anger. It is in these two temples that the brahmanical sanatana, which makes Tamil and Tamilans bear the ignominy of untouchability, is being protected.
Last month, when Jayasheela, a Shiva devotee, tried to get into the ‘Chitrambala Medai’ ( a platform to sing hymns of devaram, thiruvasagam while praying god) to worship Lord Nataraja in the Chidambaram Natarajar temple, a group of Dikshita Brahmins surrounded her and tried to beat her up and insulted by calling her “Paraichi” ( a vulgar word to insult sheduled caste).
In the wake of this incident, the revolutionary organisations and democratic forces have been calling for the suppression of the dikshitars. The DMK government completed its duty by just registering a case against 20 Dikshitars for allegedly abusing her on the pretext of caste. The DMK government is not only preventing but also arresting the democratic forces who are fighting to get into the Chitrambala Medai to worship and sing hymns in Tamil there.
The BJP and the sangh parivar gang, in Ariyalur student Lavanya’s case, spreaded false news and tried to create communal violence. But they remained just as mute spectators when Shiva devotee Jayasheela was insulted. This incident exposed that their very lifeline is the anti-Tamil, brahmanical caste supremacist mentality.
The dikshitars waited for the right time to snatch away the right to sing Tamil hymns in Chitrambala Medai. This right was won as a result of agitations by the revolutionary and democratic forces. The dikshitars used the corona pandemic situation to restrict the devotees from getting into the Chitrambala Medai. In addition, inorder to establish their brahmanical supremacy, they drafted a rule so that anyone can climb up the Chitrambala Medai and worship except the Dikshitars.
Because of Jayasheela’s protest, a compulsion has now arisen to allow all castes to enter into the Chitrambala Medai. The Dikshitar gang is now blaming the revolutionary outfits by saying “this issue is a conspiracy by the politicians”.
The Babri Masjid belongs to Lord Ram! Thillai temple belongs to Dikshitars!
The Nataraja temple in Chidambaram is spread over an area of 40 acres and has four gopurams (towers) and five sabhas. The temple has about 2,700 acres of land; It has assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, including jewellery worth crores of rupees. This dikshita brahmin gang has stolen everything and kept under its control.
The temple is said to have been built in the 10th century A.D. and is said to be of Tamil-Dravidian architecture. The restoration of this temple had been done by Chola, Pallava and Vijayanagara empires and it received grants from kings. Thus, the Thillai temple, constructed by the kings with tax money compulsorily collected from the Tamil people, has now been transformed into the property of the Dikshita Brahmins.
In Thillai, revolutionary organisations led by Human Rights Protection Council organized several agitations for the right to sing Tamil. Following this, a case was filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of these organisations to hand over the Thillai Nataraja temple to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. In this case, the Supreme Court gave its verdict in 2014. The proof behind this judgment was the story told by the Dikshitars.
Once upon a time, 3,000 Dikshitars from Kailash came to Chidambaram. When they arrived and counted heads, one went missing. While all the Dikshitars were confused, Lord Shiva himself had said that “I am the one who was missing” – the Supreme Court accepted this bogus story and recognised the Nataraja temple as the property of the Dikshitars.
The word “Dikshitar” is not mentioned even once in the famous Saiva literatures such as Thevaram and Thiruvasagam; There is no evidence that the temple was built by the Dikshitars or their descendants. However, based on the beliefs of the Dikshitars, the Uchikudumi Mandram (Supreme Court) has handed over the Thillai temple, belonging to the Tamils, to the Dikshitars; Like it gave the Babri Masjid to Lord Ram.
Praise the theft-fame Dikshitars!
Ever since Shiva said, “I am also Dikshitar”, the Thillai Dikshitars claim that they have the pride that the Bhattacharyas and the Sivacharyas don’t have. That is why the Dikshitars are openly and boldly committing all kinds of iniquities.
Last year, a Dikshitar had beaten up a Vanniyar caste woman who had come to visit the temple. Last month, the Dikshitar gang had also tried to beat up Jayasheela, who belongs to a scheduled caste. According to them, the shudras and panchamas should be subservient to them. If they demand any rights, they would be beaten.
Eating meat inside the temple, sexually harassing women, assaulting devotees, etc., are common to the Dikshitars of the Thillai temple. Dikshitar caught by the police stealing bicycle; murdering a dikshitar during the splitting of cash contibutions by the devotees (Dakshina); The Dikshitars who killed K Adoor Selvaraj and the Dikshitars who killed the land broker Rayar — all the 400 dikshitars are criminals. That’s why it took 55 days to register a case against the Dikshitars who attacked Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy in 2000. In the above mentioned cases all the Dikshitars were acquitted by the court. In the Jayasheela case also, these Dikshita Brahmins will surely be acquitted.
‘Red’ that saved Sivanadiyar
The right to sing Tamil in Thillai has not been won easily. Arumugasamy, a Sivanadiyar (a deciple of lord Shiva), was the first to attempt to sing Tamil in Chitrambala Medai. The Dikshitars argued in Chidambaram court that Arumugasamy should not get into the Chitrambala platform and if he entered the temple there was a possibility of theft of temple ornaments. Accepting these arguments of the Dikshitars, the judicial magistrate banned the entry of Arumugasamy into the temple. Against this, petitions were filed in the High Court on behalf of the revolutionary organisations & the TN government, and in 2008, we got the right to sing Tamil in Chitrambalam through the Madras High Court.
The struggle of the revolutionary organizations such as People’s Art and Literary Association, Revolutionary Student-Youth Front, New Democratic Labour Front, Peasants Liberation Front and Human Rights Protection Council gave not only Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy but also the Tamil people the right to sing in Tamil in Thillai Chitrambalam.
On March 2, 2008, after the verdict, members of revolutionary and progressive organisations invited Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy on an elephant to the temple. In order to prevent Arumugasamy from getting into the Chitrambala platform, the Dikshitars poured oil on the platform and applied oil on their bodies and waited to pounce on those who entered the temple.
Hundreds of comrades and police force were waiting outside the temple. The Dikshita Brahmins attacked Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy who entered the Chitrambalam without any hesitation; They also attacked the accompanying police officers.
Many PALA comrades were attacked. Sirkazhi comrade Ambikapathi, who had recently left us, had his skull broken and spilled his blood in Chitrambalam. It was this bloodshed that gave us the right to sing in Tamil.
When the comrades and the people firmly announced that they would not move away from the temple without putting Arumugasamy in Chitrambalam, the police had no choice but to kick the Dikshitar mob, drag them out and make Arumugasamy sing Tamil on the Chitrambala platform. Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy sang the Tamil song “Thillai vaazh andhanartham adiyaarkum adiyaen”. At that time, the Dikshitars howled to prevent the “Neesha Bhasha” Tamil from reaching the ears of Lord Shiva.
In 2000, when the same Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy went to sing Thevaram and Thiruvasagam on the Chitrambala stage, he was thrown at the entrance of the temple by rowdy Dikshita Brahmins with his hands and legs broken. At that time, it was the Naxalbari Revolutionary Communist Organisation that entered the protest field to establish the right to sing in Tamil on the Thillai Chitrambala platform.
It was the revolutionary organisations that took the issue to the people through lakhs of pamplets and publications and established the right to sing in Tamil through demonstrations, protests and court cases. Dravidar Kazhagam, DMK, VCK, PMK and several parties/organisations stood in support.
History was that Nandanar and Vallalar, who believed in Lord Shiva, were burnt to death by the Brahmin mob. Arumugasamy was the only person who escaped from them. Because Lord Shiva did not save the Sivanadiyar, it was ‘Red’ that saved him.
The mutts and sivanadiyars who make a living out of Tamil did not come that day to establish the right to sing in Tamil. Left with no other option, the communists, who were atheists, had to sing Thiruvasagam in order to establish the right to sing Tamil in Thiruchitrambalam.
It is only because of the fact that the spirit of self-respect has been lost among the theists to protect the hard-earned right, the brahmin domination continues to flourish in Thillai to this day.
Government Order and the Apex Court
The revolutionary organisations and the democratic forces waged a continuous struggle to rescue the Thillai temple from the Dikshitar gang and brought it under the purview of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department. As a result, on February 2, 2009, the Tamilnadu government led by Karunanithi brought the Thillai Chidambaram Nataraja temple under the HR & CE Department through a government order.
Earlier, in 1982, the MGR government had issued an order to hand over the Nataraja temple to the HR & CE Department after two Dikshitars in the Thillai temple lodged various complaints against fellow Dikshitars, including the theft of the temple jewellery. It is to be noted that the Dikshitars had obtained a stay order from the court objecting this.
After the Thillai temple was brought under the control of the HR & CE, the temple pond was desilted. The toilets were cleaned. At that time, the waste was full of brandy – beer bottles and condoms. These made the world aware of the virtue of the Thillai Dikshitars adhering to the Agamas.
Dikshitars looted the offerings of the devotees. This situation changed when hundis were placed in the temple. In two years, the hundi income alone crossed ₹1.5 crore. Apart from this, gold, silver and diamond jewellery were also piled up. Before it came under the control of the state, the Dikshitars calculated that the annual income of the hundi as ₹30,000. The balance remained after spending for temple expenses was ₹199. If so, how many hundreds of crores of rupees have been looted by these pirate dikshitars all these years?
The Dikshitars filed a case in the Madras High Court challenging the government order of bringing the Thillai Chidambaram Nataraja temple under the HR & CE Department. Justice Banumathi of the Madras High Court delivered the verdict on February 2, 2009.
It said, “Many of the court’s earlier orders have said that the Thillai Nataraja temple is a ‘public’ property and nowhere does it say that the temple belongs to the Dikshitars”. Pointing out this as early as 1885, judges Muthuswami Iyer and J.J. Sheppard, made it clear that the Chidambaram temple was a place of public worship and not a private property of the Dikshitars. They dismissed the petition of the Dikshitars, saying that “the order of the Tamilnadu government appointing an executive officer on behalf of the HR & CE Department to administer the Chidambaram Nataraja temple was correct”. Further, it also revealed that one Dikshitar had illegally sold the temple property.
Subramanian Swamy – the national brahmin political tout and the Dikshitars filed an appeal against the order passed by the single-judge bench of the Madras High Court. On September 15, 2009, a two-judge bench of the High Court delivered a historic verdict.
It said “Neither the Dikshitars nor their ancestors built the Chidambaram temple. Therefore, there is no ground for the Dikshitars to stake claim over the temple”. It also upheld that the order of appointment of the executive officer of the temple by the Commissioner of HR & CE department to protect and manage the temple property.
The Dikshitars and Subramanian Swamy filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court verdict. At that time, in Tamilnadu, there was a change of government. The DMK government exited and the AIADMK led by Jayalalitha assumed power.
Dikshitars met Jayalalitha and requested her to act in their favour. As demanded by them, not even senior advocates were appointed on behalf of the Government of Tamilnadu for this case. Revolutionary and democratic organisations fought against this inaction.
Dravidar Kazhagam leader K Veeramani’s statement dated 29.11.2014 on the Chidambaram Nataraja temple issue is enough to explain the situation at that time. His statement said “A senior lawyer should be appointed and the temple property should be protected from the Dikshitars who have gone to the Supreme Court”.
A supreme court bench consisting of Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde delivered its verdict that it was not right to bring the Thillai temple under the control of the Tamilnadu government and handed over the temple to the Dikshitars. It is to be noted that the advocates of the Government of Tamilnadu did not submit any evidence which forms the basis of the Madras Court’s judgments that “Thillai temple is a public property and doesn’t belong to Dikshitars” or the evidences for the 1885 judgment.
Subramanian Swamy, the bureaucracy, the Dikshitars, the judiciary — the entire Brahmin hierarchy conspired together. Therefore, the temple which was under the control of the Government of Tamilnadu was again handed over to the dikshitar criminals.
Penal Code can’t control Janeu Code!
After the temple came under the control of the Dikshita Brahmins, the Dikshitars converted the temple into a marriage hall after receiving several crores of rupees as bribe for the lavish wedding of the Sivakasi fireworks businessman’s family held on 11.9.2018. Outsiders were made to stay secretly inside the temple who climbed on to the golden roof and decorated the entire Thousand Pillar Mandapam as a luxury five-star hotel. Only those wearing badges provided by the wedding family were allowed inside. Other devotees who came to the temple were stopped.
As soon as the issue came to light, only a Dikshitar called Pattu was suspended and a fine of ₹1,001 was imposed on him. A question may arise as to whether this is a punishment and in which statute book it is there. It shows that the Indian Penal Code, which punishes crimes, will not control the Janeu (Brahmin’s Sacred thread) Code. That is why the Dikshitars today have the courage to attack devotees like Jayasheela.
Today, it is against this Janeu dynasty that we are fighting for the right to worship. The struggle for the right to sing in Tamil and the struggle to bring the temple under the control of the state are not different.
We have no right to avert!
The only way to rescue Thillai temple from dikshitar domination and to restore the right to sing Tamil is to bring the Thillai Chidambaram Nataraja temple under the control of the government. For this, the Government of Tamilnadu should enact a special law. The southern gate, which was closed because of ‘pollution’ as Nandan belonging to the scheduled caste had entered through it that day, should now be smashed.
The RSS-BJP saffron fascists are in power. They are once again moving in the direction of officially establishing a modern form of brahmanical tyranny – a Hindu Rashtra – in the country. Therefore, it is not easy to break the domination of the Dikshitars in Thillai.
In 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished, we entered the sanctum sanctorum of Sriranganathan’s temple in Trichy with portraits of Periyar and Ambedkar saying, “Don’t identify as Hindu; don’t adhere the Brahmin” and woke up the sleeping Lord Ranganathan.
Defeating the dominance of Thillai Dikshitars should be seen as a matter of retaliation for the actions of the saffron fascists including the ban on the hijab and the ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan (arabic call to prayer) in other states of India. Making the Thillai temple as a property of the Tamilians is a step forward in the battlefield against the sanatana–brahmanical forces.
The blow we give from the Tamilnadu should target the very lifeline of brahmanism. Let’s see who will win this battle – sanaatha mob or Tamilians? Every self-conscious Tamilian should enter the battlefield. For this greater task of awakening the people, history has entrusted the revolutionary-democratic forces consisting of the Communists, Dravidian and Tamil Nationalist organisations.
Once upon a time, 3,000 Dikshitars from Kailash came to Chidambaram. When they arrived and counted heads, one went missing. While all the Dikshitars were confused, Lord Shiva himself had said that “I am the one who was missing” – the Supreme Court accepted this bogus story and recognised the Nataraja temple as the property of the Dikshitars.
When the comrades and the people firmly announced that they would not move away from the temple without putting Arumugasamy in Chitrambalam, the police had no choice but to kick the Dikshitar mob, drag them out and make Arumugasamy sing Tamil on the Chitrambala platform. Sivanadiyar Arumugasamy sang the Tamil song “Thillai vaazh andhanartham adiyaarkum adiyaen”. At that time, the Dikshitars howled to prevent the “Neesha Bhasha” Tamil from reaching the ears of Lord Shiva.
A supreme court bench consisting of Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde delivered its verdict that it was not right to bring the Thillai temple under the control of the Tamilnadu government and handed over the temple to the Dikshitars. It is to be noted that the advocates of the Government of Tamilnadu did not submit any evidence which forms the basis of the Madras Court’s judgments that “Thillai temple is a public property and doesn’t belong to Dikshitars” or the evidences for the 1885 judgment.
