Explained | Thiruparankundram's significance and why is it becoming a playground for religious politics

Chennai: Thiruparankundram, the first of the six abodes of Lord Murugan across Tamil Nadu, is located in Madurai, one of the oldest living cities in the world.

Thiruparankundram hill has been a haven of religious coexistence and communal harmony for centuries, hosting the Subramaniya Swamy temple, Kasi Viswanathan temple, and Sikkander Badusha dargah. People from the Hindu and Muslim communities in Thiruparankundram have been living together for centuries – members of both communities own shops outside the Murugan temple.

While the dargah is the most recent religious structure, dating to the 17th century, there has never been major religious conflict in the village.

An ownership dispute that arose about a century ago was settled in 1923 by a Subordinate Judge of Madura, who ruled that the whole hill, except “certain cultivated and assessed lands and the site of the mosque,belonged to the Murugan Temple.

What led to protests in February?

However, right-wing organisations in Tamil Nadu began raking up the issue of Thiruparankundram in February this year after demand by a few Muslim organisations to rename the hillock, which is also home to a dargah, as Sikkandar Malai.

During a protest against the demand on February 4, BJP leader H Raja attempted to stoke religious passions by calling Thiruparankundram as the “Ayodhya of South.” The row in February began when photographs of people allegedly consuming meat at the hillock surfaced leading to strong objection from believers of Lord Murugan.

The photograph also led to major confrontation between Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha MP Nawaz Kani and then Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai who accused the former of leading the group that consumed meat at the hills.

Even as the right wing organisations and Muslim outfits fight it out, residents of Thiruparankundram have been maintaining that the controversy was unnecessary and that they have been coexisting peacefully for decades together.

BJP wants to 'milk the issue'?

Though the BJP withdrew its protests, the party continued to raise the issue with Union Home Minister Amit Shah accusing the DMK government of supporting the renaming of the hillock and encouraged Hindu devotees to participate in the June 22 Murugan conference, which advocated for Hindu consolidation in favour of the BJP.

Lord Murugan is one of the most revered deities, especially among backward communities and transcending caste lines and the BJP believes making the god its poster boy in Tamil Nadu will help it gain foothold in the state.

A controversy also broke out as Hindu outfits took objection to the animal sacrifice by Muslims at the dargah. In October, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court prohibited the ritual of animal sacrifice at the Sikandar Dargah with a third judge pronouncing the order after a two-judge Bench delivered a split verdict in June 2025.

The current row and prohibitory orders

In December, Rama Ravikumar, a known Hindu activist, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking an order to light the fire on Karthigai Deepam atop the Thiruparankundram instead of the Deepa Mandapam, which has been the practice for a century.

Justice G R Swaminathan on Monday ordered that the Deepam be lit at Deepathoon atop the hill, changing the century-old practice of lighting the lamp at the Deepa Mandapam near Uchipillaiyar temple. But, the HR&CE officials lit the fire at the Uchipillaiyar temple at 6 pm as per the tradition.

As the petitioner, Rama Ravikumar, informed the court that the order has not been executed, justice G R Swaminathan not merely pulled up the DMK dispensation for breaching his order but also asked CISF personnel guarding the high court premises to accompany the petitioner with 10 people to the hills to help light the lamp.

The judge called the act “symbolic but necessary” to uphold the authority of the court.

Fearing a law and order situation, the Madurai District Administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 in Thiruparankundram until further orders.