I was driving on Mount Road on a weekday afternoon at 2 o clock. I was quite surprised to see a battalion of police on the road.The road was choking with traffic.Men were dancing infront of buses and vans in full "tasmac" mode. Women were taking Molaipari (முளைப்பாரி) on mount road. For starters, molaipari is a function/ritual done during village festivals. All crowd were leading to thevar statue on the mount road.
It was a normal traffic day for Chennai. But not for the people in South Tamilnadu. Oct 30 was the birthday of Pasumpom Muthuramalinga thevar. When i asked about thevar to few people, they don't have any clue who this man is. We can't blame those guys for this.
Oct 30 is purely a terror day for south TN.People from all over the state will throng Pasumpom, a very small village in Ramnad district to pay respects to him.
I think it was around the year 2003.We had shifted our house from Tuticorin to Kovilpatti. The local people had constructed a 10 feet statue of thevar right in front of our house. The statue served as bus stop for local mini bus. Every time, somebody gets down from the mini bus, they will go and worship infront of this statue. It was quite amusing for me to see this.
The government had installed huge grills around this statue and had locked it. Around election time, every local leader has to pay garlands to this statue and talk few words about him.I remember even Vaiko did it once. During pongal , people will fix mike-sets and blare thevar songs all day.
You will be surprised to know that there are many songs in tamil movies in praise of him. Almost all masala movies portraying violence in Madurai are loosely connected to this particular caste. Kamal too added his tribute by thevar magan.However, nobody wants to listen to the final message of the movie.I really forgot how many times i have heard this song in mike sets outside my house.
If any guy beheads the statue or hangs slipper on the statue, that's it. It is the end of the world. Violence will continue for days and hence the government decided to protect the statues by grilling them. Quite funny for outsiders when they see grilled statues everywhere!
I recently met a friend who was in the know-how of these celebrations at Pasumpon and i was really shocked to hear them. More on that tomorrow.
It was a normal traffic day for Chennai. But not for the people in South Tamilnadu. Oct 30 was the birthday of Pasumpom Muthuramalinga thevar. When i asked about thevar to few people, they don't have any clue who this man is. We can't blame those guys for this.
Oct 30 is purely a terror day for south TN.People from all over the state will throng Pasumpom, a very small village in Ramnad district to pay respects to him.
I think it was around the year 2003.We had shifted our house from Tuticorin to Kovilpatti. The local people had constructed a 10 feet statue of thevar right in front of our house. The statue served as bus stop for local mini bus. Every time, somebody gets down from the mini bus, they will go and worship infront of this statue. It was quite amusing for me to see this.
The government had installed huge grills around this statue and had locked it. Around election time, every local leader has to pay garlands to this statue and talk few words about him.I remember even Vaiko did it once. During pongal , people will fix mike-sets and blare thevar songs all day.
You will be surprised to know that there are many songs in tamil movies in praise of him. Almost all masala movies portraying violence in Madurai are loosely connected to this particular caste. Kamal too added his tribute by thevar magan.However, nobody wants to listen to the final message of the movie.I really forgot how many times i have heard this song in mike sets outside my house.
If any guy beheads the statue or hangs slipper on the statue, that's it. It is the end of the world. Violence will continue for days and hence the government decided to protect the statues by grilling them. Quite funny for outsiders when they see grilled statues everywhere!
I recently met a friend who was in the know-how of these celebrations at Pasumpon and i was really shocked to hear them. More on that tomorrow.
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