Thiruparankundram residents in Tamil Nadu prioritise unity over Deepam dispute

Thiruparankundram: Inside his shop overlooking the Lord Murugan Temple, 33-year-old Raja said three generations of his family have seen Deepam lit near the Uchipillaiyar Temple during Karthigai Deepam every year.

“We don’t want that tradition disturbed. Disturbing this century-old tradition would only lead to misunderstanding between Hindus and Muslims, who have lived peacefully in this village for decades,” Raja told DH.

Not just Raja, 41-year-old Mala objects to Thiruparankundram, the first of the six abodes of Lord Murugan, being referred to as the ‘Ayodhya of the South’ by right-wing organisations. 

“Where is the dispute here? I came here 22 years ago after marrying my husband and since then, I haven’t heard of any problems between Hindus and Muslims. Those who created trouble last year were outsiders, not locals. Some people from both sides want to disturb the peace here,” she said.

The court order and the defiance

On December 3, 2025, Thiruparankundram hit national headlines after the temple authorities lit the Deepam near the Uchipillaiyar Temple, refusing to light the Karthigai Deepam atop the hill near a dargah as directed by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. 

Justice G R Swaminathan sent CISF personnel to help the petitioner light the lamp at the Deepathoon atop the hill, but the local police refused to allow them citing law and order problems. 

Locals spoke in one voice by not downing their shutters in response to a bandh call by right-wing organisations. 

BJP has also been trying to milk the issue to “rally Hindus” behind them ahead of the elections with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the temple earlier this year. Recently, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu manifesto promised that the lamp will be lit atop the hillock.

Yet the issue holds little sway with voters this election. 

For Rajesh, who sells toys outside the temple entrance, good roads are his priority. “The roads haven’t improved at all. We keep hearing that funds are being allocated but I have not seen them being spent here,” he complained. 

Elections and the impact

AIADMK’s incumbent Rajan Chellappa, DMK’s Kiruthiga Thangapandian and TVK’s C T R Nirmal Kumar are locking horns from the Thiruparankundram assembly constituency. Though unclear if BJP sought or was denied the seat, Chellappa promised in a campaign speech to light the lamp at Deepathoon. 

Thiruparankundram hill has been a haven of religious coexistence for centuries, hosting the Subramaniya Swamy temple, Kasi Viswanathar temple, and Sikkander Badusha dargah.

“I will vote as per my conscience. And I want religious harmony to prevail in Thiruparankundram,” Raja said. Mala pitched in to say that her Muslim neighbours did give biryani during Ramzan this year and that bonding between the two communities have only increased after the December incident. 

“It was the shopkeepers who were affected the most. Our business was affected for about a month. Police erected barricades unnecessarily and they made our life miserable. Things have eased now and we are doing fine,” she said.

Mohammed Idris Khan, who has been living in Thiruparankundram for 18 years, said he has himself seen Muslims sacrificing animals atop the hills as part of the religious practice. “Since the authorities have now imposed a ban on animal sacrifice, Muslims fulfill the vow made to the God at the foothills. Moreover, the number of people who climb the hill have reduced over the years. Locals have no issues. We are still united,” Khan told DH.

‘Deepam should be lit’

But there are also people like Raja, a fruit seller, who is angry at the DMK government for not implementing the court order. “Why didn’t the police allow people to climb atop the hill and light the lamp on the Deepathoon? I agree that the Deepam is being lit at the Uchipillaiyar Temple for the past century. But when we have a Deepathoon, why can’t we light the lamp there?” he asked. 

Kannan, a supporter of the AIADMK, was categorical that the Deepam will be lit atop the hill if his party came to power. “Our candidate promised it,” Kannan added. 

‘Failure after failure’

Prominent Tamil writer and activist A Muthukrishnan recalled that right-wing organisations have been trying to rake up the Deepam issue since 1993 and have failed every time. 

“Until Justice G R Swaminathan’s order in 2025, the courts were definitive in not allowing any communal trouble. The court order gave fodder and fuel to the right-wing organisations who have been trying to create trouble. The ownership issue was settled by the Privy Council in the 1930s,” Muthukrishnan, a resident of Thiruparankundram, told DH.

The Deepam has been lit near the Uchipillaiyar Temple under the tenures of every Chief Minister who has governed the state since Independence and even before that, the writer said, and accused the BJP of trying and failing every time. 

“They know this is a non-issue this election and that is why the BJP is running away from the seat. They know the pulse of the people over there. I credit the government for preventing a clash between two communities by refusing to implement the court order,” Muthukrishnan added.

On April 8, a Division Bench of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court issued an interim stay on all orders passed by justice Swaminathan in the connected contempt proceedings. 

The background

People from the Hindu and Muslim communities in Thiruparankundram had lived 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.

However, right-wing organisations in Tamil Nadu began raking up the issue of Thiruparankundram in February 2025 after demand by a few Muslim organisations to rename the hillock, which is also home to a dargah, as Sikkandar Malai. The row 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. 

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.