Bad Blood Runs High As Melpathi Temple Sees None On Day 2 Of Opening

A day after the Shri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple at Melpathi village was opened for the public, no one from the village turned up at the temple for worship on Friday when it was opened for rituals in the morning and evening.

- Krithika Srinivasan @ Villupuram

The Vanniyar community of Melpathi, who are higher in number—their resistance to Dalits entering the temple resulted in its closure in June 2023—stayed away despite Friday being an auspicious day. Many from the community said they would rather boycott than worship together with the Dalits.

A few men from the community chatting at a tea shop near the temple on Friday told TNIE, on condition of anonymity, they felt the temple has been "polluted" after Dalits entered on Thursday, adding purification rituals needs to be performed to cleanse the temple.