The DMK needs to be censured

DMK’s Constitutional blasphemy and Brahmin hate need to be called out loud and clear to preserve the fabric of our democracy and society.

- VIVEK GUMASTE

The controversy regarding the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam lamp atop Thiruparankundram hills near Madurai is a microcosm of the twin ills that plague India's secularism, namely minority appeasement and Hindu bashing. By blatantly defying Constitutional authority to pursue its warped agenda, the DMK has added a new dimension and a new audacity to its ongoing campaign of Hindu vilification.

Additionally, its specific and savage targeting of Justice Swaminathan is emblematic of its core ideology of Brahmin hate.

Lord Murugan, also known as Kartikeya, Skanda and Subrahmanya is a popular Hindu deity revered all across South India by all castes as the son of Shiva and Parvati. And Thiruparankundram is considered to be the first of the six abodes of Lord Murugan; it finds mention in Sangam literature, an ancient body of Tamil literature that dates back to 300 BCE, attesting to the antiquity of this association.

The Subramanya Swamy temple is a rock-cut structure built into the base of a large monolithic rock hill called the Thiruparankundram hill, also known as Kandhamalai (hill of Kandha). The temple was built around 6th century CE during the Pandyan period.

Apart from the Subrahmanya temple, the Kashi Vishwanathar temple and Ucchi Pillayar temple are also located on this mound.

Ancient Hindu and Jain structures including early cave temples going back thousands of years have been found on this hill making the association between this hillock and Hinduism undeniable.

Only much later around the 13th century, a simple memorial was built atop the hill in memory of Sikandar Shah, the last ruler of the Madurai Sultanate.

The dargah itself was a latter addition, probably after 1858, not being visible in pictures prior to that.