THOOTHUKUDI: Even models, junior artists and TV actresses have arrived at the Kulasekarapattinam Mutharaman Temple in recent years and danced in vulgar ways to double meaning songs for Dussehra celebrations. The ‘sacrilege’ as many devotees call it, have turned the religious festival into an event of full-fledged entertainment. Finally, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had to step in to put an end to this not-so-appeasing practice.
Kulasekarapattinam is famed for its Dussehra celebrations, with lakhs of devotees from various parts of Tamil Nadu participating in it. Dussehra celebrations here is considered second only to the festival in Mysuru. This year, the 11-day event at the Kulasekarapattinam Mutharaman Temple is from September 21 to October 1, with Surasamharam marking the conclusion of the festival.
But of late, paid dancers have proved to be an embarrassment to the devotees arriving for the festival.
Devotees dressed in unique attires, with some dressed like animals and some men dressed as women, collect offerings from the public and commercial establishments as a fulfilment of a vow. There are registered and unregistered Dusherra groups that dance to help collect offerings.
Loganathan Vinod Kanagaraj, a devotee from Alagappapuram, said that getting alms to offer Goddess Mutharaman is a traditional form of the worship at this temple.According to elders, devotees from faraway places collect alms to at least partially cover their travel expenses to the temple. They usually put a portion of alms collected into the temple hundial, Kanagaraj said.Some of the Dussehra groups began to rope in dancers, models, side actresses and TV actors, paying them in lakhs, to perform in the festival. This apparently did not go well with the devotees, the temple authorities and the public, said some sources.
To put an end to the practice, Advocate Ramkumar Adityan of Kayamozhi near Tiruchendur filed a Public Interest Litigation against such practices, at the Madurai Bench of the High Court. On August 31, after hearing the arguments, judges K K Sasidharan and G R Swaminathan issued a ban on obscene dances during Dussehra festivals. The court also directed the police to deny permission to groups hiring dancers to participate in the festival.
Speaking to Express, Ramkumar said that obscene dances desecrate the Hindu religious sentiments.
“The obscene dances by the paid dancers have been slowly taking roots during the Dussehra festival, turning a religious event into full-fledged entertainment.
“The Hindus are not happy and are frowning at the new practices. However, police have chosen to remain as mere mute spectators,” he said.
“The dancers are lured with high prices. Shockingly, they are also given a share of the collection money, which is meant to be an offering to the temple,” he said.“Some groups have commercialised the festival and several lakhs of rupees are being misused. This is sacrilegious and will only bring disrepute to the temple festival, apart from hurting the sentiments of the people,” he said.
Both the public and the temple authorities have welcomed the ban. “It has truly saved a sacred event from becoming an entertainment show,” said the temple authorities.
While hearing the case, the judges rejected a counter affidavit filed by the Thoothukudi Police, which claimed no such events were organised during the Dussehra festival. They said such dance programmes need not be banned, and the litigant has filed the suit for popularity.
However, advocate Karthick Subramanian, who argued for the case, submitted evidences including video footage for organising programmes before the judges and informed the court that no FIR has been registered against obscene programmes conducted in the full view of the public previous years.
Hearing the arguments, judges K K Sasidharan and G R Swaminathan observed that devotees came in the guise of Gods and Goddess with religious fervour for the Dussehra festival and hence obscene dances cannot be accepted.
Also, such dances damage the culture of the religious festivals, judges further observed while banning the conduct of obscene dances at Kulasekarapattinam.The court had also directed police not to give permission for those bringing dancers from other places for the festival.Welcoming the order A Karthikeyan, treasurer of Dussehra Coordination Committee, said that the order had come to the rescue of the festival from the sacrilegious activities and upheld the religious sentiments, he added.
Distinctive festivity
Lakhs of people assemble at the 300-year-old Sri Mutharamman Temple in Kulasekharapatnam to celebrate Dussehra year after year
Devotees reaching the temple are expected to beg alms from door to door for money to meet their expenses and to offer at temple shrine
When court rescued Aadal, Paadal
■ A vacation judge of the Madras High Court had in May this year permitted the organisers of Chithirai festivals in temples to conduct ‘Aadal, Paadal’ programmes, subject to certain conditions
■ The High Court said double meaning songs should not be played during the festivals, which could spoil the minds of the youth and students
■ No dance or songs, touching upon any political party, religion, community, or caste should be
played, said Justice K Kalyanasundaram, while granting conditional permission
■ The functions should not affect the religious or communal harmony and should be conducted without any discrimination based on caste, the judge said in his order
■ According to advocate
R P Murugan Raja, his client P Arivudainambi proposed to conduct the Chithirai festival at Chillakudi Pachaiamman temple in Alathur taluk in Perambalur district on June 12, but was denied police permission citing law and order issue
■ Women dancers wearing ‘two-piece dresses’ in a crowd that mostly comprised youth in drunken mood had caused much tension during such functions recently, which also led to caste clashes at times
■ Earlier in November 2016, the Madras High Court had expressed regret over granting permission to hold Aadal, Paadal
■ “I had passed those orders placing implicit faith in the representation(s) of the counsel (for petitioners). One has to learn from previous bad experiences and I am willing to,” Justice P N Prakash said, while regretting the misuse of the order