DMK is now embracing Murugan. Why no party in Tamil Nadu can escape this Dravidian god

Chennai: The office of the famous Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple in Palani, Tamil Nadu is abuzz with activity. There is a global conference of scholars and the temple has a key role to play in it.

Some officials are planning to set up an exhibition depicting the six abodes of Lord Murugan. Another anxious coordinator is arranging travel and accommodation for the foreign dignitaries who will present their research papers on Murugan. One official is taking stock of all the pending work and reminds his colleague to check on the Panjamirtham—a traditional prasadam or temple offering to devotees—that will be distributed to the participants at the conference.

The Lok Sabha elections are over, but the spotlight on Tamil Nadu will remain. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on the state, a new politics around public embracing of religion is taking root. The state with one the largest temple-going population is now keen to cautiously shed its image of politics of atheism, without dropping Periyar.

Chief Minister MK Stalin’s state government is set to host the biggest-ever Muthamizh Murugan International Conference in Palani on 25 and 26 August 2024. Scholars from around the world will present papers and hold discussions with the goal of spreading the core principles of Murugan worship, understanding the underlying philosophical doctrines and instilling them among the Tamil youth.

If the DMK-led state government is initiating it [the Murugan conference] for Hindu vote bank, then it is religious polarisation and it sheds more light on their pseudo-secularism

– Narayanan Thirupathy, Vice President of TN BJP.

It all began with the BJP’s grand vel yatra plans in 2021. Then, in 2023, Udhayanidhi Stalin’s controversial comment likening Sanatana Dharma to a disease lit into an aggressive BJP and drew a host of FIRs against him. The case is still being heard in the Supreme Court. BJP leaders have said they intend to double down on creating a new political template in Tamil Nadu. Modi’s Kashi Tamil Sangam campaign was part of it. Now the DMK government wants to counter the BJP’s Ayodhya Ram temple politics by embracing the Tamils’ own primordial deity.

All political roads, it appears, lead to Murugan, popularly known as a quintessential Dravidian god.

And the tug-of-war for the religious soul of the southern state of Tamil Nadu has only just begun.

“It’s not that only we have to celebrate the god. We welcome the DMK’s move to celebrate Murugan,” said Narayanan Thirupathi, Vice President of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit.

There is a reason for the political clamour for this deity. Murugan’s history reflects, in large measure, the history of South India itself, wrote religious scholar Fred W Clothey in his 1978 book The Many Faces of Murukan. Tamil chauvinists see the god as having existed from the ‘oldest known Tamil moment’, he wrote. His identity, and history, are welded into Tamil language and literature. And in poetry, he is even called the god of Tamil. “In short, the Murukan cultus helps many Tamil adherents answer the question: ‘Who are we?’,” wrote Clothey.

Politics of Murugan

Thousands of men clad in green veshtis, dancing in a trance to the rhythms of folk instruments, some piercing themselves with long spears, carrying Kavadis on their shoulders, walking bare-foot for miles—all on the way to the hill town Palani in the Tamil month of Tai (January). The padayatra is to worship Lord Murugan on the festival of Thaipusam to commemorate his victory over a demon.

Just like the Tamil dynasties, Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas worshipped Murugan, all the major political parties in the State including BJP, have invoked him to appeal to his massive army of devotees. BJP leaders in the state have carried idols of Murugan on their shoulders. The DMK-led state government is only the newest on the list.

The BJP and the smaller regional party Naam Tamizhar Katchi welcomed the state government’s move to organise a conference for Murugan but also questioned the real intentions of the DMK government.

“If the DMK-led state government is initiating it for Hindu vote bank, then it is religious polarisation and it sheds more light on their pseudo-secularism,” said Narayanan Thirupathy, Vice President of TN BJP.

On Wednesday, Stalin released his father and former CM M Karunanidhi’s work on the Vaishnavite philosopher Ramanujar as a book. With this, DMK has embraced the extreme ends of the religious spectrum – both Muruganism and Vaishnavism.

The first political leader to appropriate Murugan was the controversial Naam Thamizhar Katchi leader Seeman. The filmmaker revived the 1958 party in 2010 as an alternative Tamil chauvinism party.

Seeman, once a follower of social reformer EV Ramasamy alias Periyar, became an ardent follower of Murugan. He said that Murugan was the ancestor of Tamils.

In 2018, at a small hut outside his house, Seeman was photographed worshipping a Murugan statue clad in a white turban with a broad green border, holding a spear in its hand and standing on a peacock. The statue also had a thin long moustache, it was unlike the ones often seen in most of the temples in the state.

The image went viral.

“Murugan has nothing to do with the Hindu religion. He has been there with the Tamils even before the Indian sub-continent was formed and even before the Hindu religion was found,” he had told the media.

It was the first time Seeman was seen as a believer and for the next few months, he attended public meetings with Murugan’s spear. Even now, he visits the six abodes of Murugan often.

His sudden discovery of Murugan wasn’t without its share of controversy. An opinion column published in 2018 by the Right-wing website Swarajya called it a mission to Christianise Murugan. The article said Seeman was earlier named Simon and by calling Murugan a historical figure, he was robbing the beloved deity of divinity.

“They are systematically reducing the deity to a historical ancestor to find political turf,” it said.

The RSS mouthpiece The Organiser also published an article in 2018 accusing Seeman of “working to separate Murugan from Hindus”.

Later, in 2020, a Tamil YouTube channel named “Karuppar Koottam” run by Periyarist activists posted a video denigrating the Kanda Shashti Kavacham, a hymn for Murugan. The Periyarists recited a literal translation of the hymn, which was called a misinterpretation and denigration by the BJP. One of the activists behind the channel denied these allegations.

“What’s the meaning of Pittam rendil peruvel Kaaka? Since a lot of us don’t understand pure Tamil, I said in a colloquial language that the line means ‘Murugan sends spear to protect buttocks’,” said Surendra Natarajan of Karuppar Koottam. The accepted translation of the line is “Let your big Vel protect my two kidneys”.

AIADMK, then ruling party and its ally BJP, targeted DMK, accusing it of being anti-Hindu and supporting the miscreants who posted the video. Though the party and the channel have no official links, naysayers pointed to MK Stalin’s vocal support of Periyar as proof of a connection.

The DMK’s organising secretary at that time, RS Bharathi, had to scramble to clarify that his party was not anti-Hindu and it believed in what the party founder CN Annadurai had said—“One Race, One God”.

Bharathi also listed how the successive DMK governments, since 1967, extending the area of the temples, retrieved temple lands and organised festivals.

It was then that the BJP decided to invoke Lord Murugan to mobilise people by organising a Vel Yatra. Then TN BJP President L Murugan, announced the yatra would begin on 6 November 2021, from Tiruttani to Tiruchendur, both among the six abodes of Murugan.

Clad in a saffron shirt and veshti, BJP leader Murugan held the spear and attempted to start the yatra from Tiruttani on the promised day.

However, the crowd was thin and he was arrested by the police, then AIADMK government did not grant permission for the Yatra due to COVID restrictions.

Despite multiple attempts between 6 November and 6 December, BJP’s plan did not take off.

The Muthamizh Murugan International Conference is seen as another initiative of the DMK government to wipe off the anti-Hindu tag imposed on them by the BJP.

The two-day conference will see the presentation of research papers on various topics including the worship of Lord Murugan worldwide and in different states of India, worship of Seyyon in Sangam literature, mentions of Murugavel in inscriptions, and the worship of Muruga in Vedic and Tamil tradition.

Scholars from various countries including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Australia, Mauritius, England, the US, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and Indonesia are likely to attend.

Though Naam Thamizhar Katchi welcomes the Muthamizh Murugan conference, the party’s youth wing organiser Idumbavanam Karthik questioned DMK’s logic behind organising it.

“We have a historical reason to call Murugan as our ancestor. What reason does MK Stalin have to celebrate lord Murugan? They are all followers of Periyar, who was an atheist himself. These are just to counter BJP,” he said.

Thirupathy called it a move to set aside their anti-Hindu image.

“If they have really become spiritual and celebrate lord Murugan, we would like to know if they would remove the slogan “he who invented god is a fool. He who propagates god is a scoundrel. He who worships god is a barbarian” written on every periyar statue in the state,” the state BJP vice president said.

The DMK has been at pains to convince people that its Murugan outreach isn’t antithetical to its Periyar ideology.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department PK Sekar Babu said that their party has never been atheist, as propagated by the people.

“It is not for the vote bank, but to spread the ideals of Murugan worship and uniting the devotees of Murugan across the globe. It’s about sharing knowledge and uniting Tamils under the Tamil god Murugan,” Sekar Babu told ThePrint.

But, Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam leader Kolathur Mani said it was not the duty of the HR&CE department to conduct such a conference. The party is an ideological comrade of DMK.

Mani recalled how VR Nedunchezhian, a former DMK minister, refused to take prasadam at a Chidambaram temple and later justified it in the State Assembly in 1967. He was the Companies and Religious Endowments Minister at the time.

“It became a huge issue and he was even questioned in the Assembly. For that, he replied that the work of the department is to control and manage the administration of the temples and not propagate it. The same applies here too,” said Mani.

We have a historical reason to call Murugan as our ancestor. What reason does MK Stalin have to celebrate lord Murugan? They are all followers of Periyar, who was an atheist himself. These are just to counter BJP

– Idumbavanam Karthik, Naam Thamizhar Katchi, youth win organiser

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai defended the decision and said that Dravidian ideology is social justice and not atheism.

“The core ideology of Dravidianism is social justice. Some of the leaders following Dravidian ideology might be atheists, but it does not mean all of them are atheists,” he said.

But, political analysts are already comparing the conference on Murugan with the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Political commentator P Sigamani said that DMK has gone to Murugan just like how BJP took Ram in their hands.

“In the North, Ram temple was opened by a trust but the Murugan conference is being hosted by the HR&CE department. Government agencies should be secular and should stay away from such activities,” he said.

An omnipresent god

Just as the Tamil saying, “Thunilum Irupan, Thurumbilum Irupan” (He who is in the pillar, is also in the splinter), Lord Murugan is a household god in Tamil Nadu.

“At least one person in every family or their extended family will have the name Lord Murugan. It need not be Murugan, but one of his several other names including Vadivelan, Senthil, Saravanan, Arumugam, Guhan, Swaminathan, Karthikeyan and so on,” said Kallanai Elango, social commentator and anthropologist.

Anthropologists have written that early Murugan worship began among Sri Lankan hunter-gatherer tribes where he was worshipped as a protector of the forest communities. Even today he is worshipped in the form of a hunter with a spear. In early Sangam poetry, Murugan is associated with the hill tracts and the hill peoples. “He presides over the hunt, he is hunter par excellence,” wrote Clothey.

Early depictions of Murugan as a forest-dweller and hunter continue to this day in many of his temples where he is shown wearing loin cloth and holding a leaf-shaped lance or vel.

His other form is that of a warrior god. In the temples and Sangam literature, Murugan appears as a priest, hunter, warrior and chieftain.

Murugan devotees view him as a pre-Vedic god, making him more acceptable to the Dravidian pride of Tamil politics. This history reinforces Tamil politics’ pre-Sanskrit heritage and enables it to counter the northern political narrative.

“His appearance and identity itself say he was a tribal from Tamil Nadu and he was worshipped by the tribes. It is also evident from the fact that his temples can be seen only in the hill areas,” said A Ramasamy, retired professor and former head of the Tamil department at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

In pre-Aryan South India, lands were classified as agricultural land (Marutham), coastal land (Neithal), hilly land (Kurinji) and dry land (Palai). People of each land worshipped a guardian of their locality.

Once city-states came into being he became identified with chieftains and warriors. By the fifth century, he “accrued most of the ten insignias associated with Tamil kingship: weapon, banner, umbrella, war-drum, horse, elephant, chariot, garlands, crowns, capital city,” Clothey wrote. The medieval period, especially the Chola era was a time of intense Brahmanisation of the Skanda-Murugan tradition.

When he is represented as a priest, the lance or the vel becomes a ritual staff. It transforms into a weapon of war when he is worshipped as a warrior and chieftain. The lance becomes an insignia of a king and is called both the Tamil vel and the Sanskrit shakti.

His appearance and identity itself say he was a tribal from Tamil Nadu and he was worshipped by the tribes. It is also evident from the fact that his temples can be seen only in the hill areas

– A Ramasamy, retired professor and former head, Tamil department, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

References to worshipping Murugan can also be found as late as the 17th century CE in a Tamil hymn sung by poet Kumaraguruparar, notes late Tamil anthropologist and writer Tho Paramasivan, in his book Theivangalum Samooka Marabukalum (Gods and their Social Traditions).

A god by many names

American anthropologist Stephen A Tyler once said, “All of Indian civilisation is built on an underlying base of Dravidian language and culture”. Through the centuries, Murugan is mentioned in the Puranas and poetry and depicted in temple architecture across India, but under different names.

It was only after the 6th century BCE, that Murugan also known as Skanda seems to have made his way to the Northern part of the country, according to Indologist Urmi Chanda Vaz, in her research paper, “The Aryan appropriation of a tribal Dravidian god”.

Vaz said that Murugan was not one, but a class of similar gods in the early period.

“We see an amalgamation and the creation of one entity known in North India Skanda-Kartikeya,” Vaz wrote in her research paper.

For example, the third book of the Mahabharata shows him as Kumara in a duel with Indra.

Scholars have attempted to find Murugan on Indus Valley seals and even a resemblance to Skanda in Alexander’s Sanskritised name “Iskandar”. But the golden age of Skanda worship in the north was the Gupta period. A stone image at Sarnath, a carved relief in Mathura and a Gandharan representation from kafir kot in the British Museum show Murugan-like sculptures with peacocks and lances, according to a 1968 monograph published by the Banaras Hindu University. Kalidasa’s poem Kumarasambhava in the 4th century CE elevated him to the northern pantheon.

In her book, Purana and Acculturation, anthropologist Nath Vijay wrote that the cult of Lord Kartikeya found in the Puranas is the most outstanding example of the transformation of tribal deities into major puranic gods.

Elango observed that traces of Karthikeya’s influence can be found across the country.

“Just like we Tamils celebrate Karthigai Deepam, (lighting of lamp during the Tamil month Karthiga), people in Maharashtra too light lamps at their house for three days. Similarly, people in the other southern states worship Murugan,” he said, citing an example of how more Keralites visit the Palani Murugan temple than Tamils.

However, Karthikeya in the North could not withstand the popularity of the other gods after the early centuries of the Common Era.

“Despite the cult popularity he enjoyed in North India in the early centuries of the Common Era, he could not stand up to the all-powerful Shiva and the increasingly popular Gaṇesha,” Urmi added.

The Murugan in Tamil Nadu and the Karthikeya in the North are the same, but have a completely different story, said Elango.

“While Murugan in Tamil Nadu has two consorts —Valli and Deivanai—Karthikeya in the North is being portrayed as an unmarried man. He is shown in a poor light as a failed man. On the other hand, Lord Ganesha is an unmarried god in Tamil Nadu, while in the North he has Riddhi and Siddhi as his consorts,” Elango said.

In the post-Sangam era, Murugan made his way to North and came back to the South. Now, after being appropriated by the BJP, the DMK is using Murugan to assert its Tamil identity.

But the people in the state are unfazed.

Bhuvaneshwari Vishwanathan, a resident of Pallavaram said that the appropriation of gods has never gained traction in Tamil Nadu.

“Let it be BJP or DMK, appropriation of god will not change anybody’s image in Tamil Nadu. During the Vinayagar Chathurthi festival, we see a lot of Hindu Munnani and other Hindu outfit guys collecting donations and organising huge rallies. It has been happening in the state for at least two decades. But, BJP has not won a seat on their own in the Assembly election,” she said.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)