Why Thiruparankundram has become Tamil Nadu’s new flashpoint

Thiruparankundram’s Deepam dispute sparks protests, court battles, and political clashes.

Transcript

00:00A centuries-old Deepam on a hilltop, a judge facing impeachment in clashes that have fled for nearly three decades.

00:07This is Thiruparan Kundram, the first of Lord Murugan's Sikhs aboard, a hilltop in Madurai,

00:12where a temple, a Shiva shrine and a Sufi dargah sit side by side,

00:16a place long held up as a symbol of coexistence.

00:19But in November 2025, everything changed.

00:21According to reports, several Hindu organisations approached the Madras High Court's Madurai bench.

00:26They wanted permission to light the Karthikai Deepam not at the usual Pilyar Temple Mantapam,

00:31but at a stone pillar near the Sikandar Aulia Dargah, saying that was the traditional Deepas Thambam.

00:37Justice G.R. Swaminathan agreed.

00:39But the Tamil Nadu government refused to carry out the order.

00:42On December 3rd, the lamp was lit at the traditional spot instead.

00:45Things escalated. Protesters broke barricades, police pushed them and amid rising tensions,

00:50the Madurai collector imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS.

00:55Hindu groups, the BJP and the AIA DMK accused the DMK of appeasing minorities by defying the court.

01:02Chief Minister Stalin hid back, saying the hill wouldn't be turned into a Hindutva laboratory

01:06and that every ritual was done in its rightful location.

01:10During the winter session of Parliament, the India Bloc MP submitted an impeachment notice

01:14against Justice Swaminathan, an unprecedented twist in a religious dispute.

01:18But to understand why this hill is so sensitive, you have to look back.

01:22Thiruparan Kundram has long been a symbol of coexistence, home to the Subramanya Swamy Temple,

01:27the Kashi Vishwanathar Shrine and the Sikandar Badushai Dargah, where Hindu and Muslim communities

01:32have lived in harmony for centuries.

01:34According to historical records, though the Dargah emerged only in the 17th century, the

01:39temple existed even earlier.

01:40Yet for centuries, Hindus and Muslims worshipped here without conflict.

01:44A British-era ruling from 1923 even settled ownership.

01:48The entire hill belonged to the temple, except for cultivated land and the mosque site.

01:53Still, disputes resurfaced over the years, from viral photos of people allegedly consuming

01:58meat on the hilltop to a fiery confrontation between MP Nawaz Kani and BJP's K. Annamalai.

02:03The courts stepped in again, this time banning animal sacrifice at the Dargah, following objection

02:09from Hindu groups.

02:10For two years now, petitions, counter-petitions, protests and prohibitory orders have tried to

02:14define who has the right to light the Deepam and where.

02:18Today, Thiruparan Kundram isn't just a hill, it's a front line in Tamil Nadu's battle

02:22over faith, law and politics.

02:25But for the people who live there, devotees from both communities, the question is far simpler.

02:29When will their shared hill go back to peace?