On the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadashi, people of the Dalit community entered the 200-year-old Varadharaja Perumal temple in Chinnasalem town of Kallakurichi district, Tamil Nadu, on Monday.
During Vaikuntha Ekadashi this year, people of the Dalit community entered the 200-year-old Varadharaja Perumal temple in Chinnasalem town of Kallakurichi district in Tamil Nadu for the first time.
The scheduled caste (SC) people have not been allowed to enter the temple for the past 200 years. Even after several protests over the years, they were never allowed to offer their prayers.
However, district collector Shravan Kumar along with another official received directions from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department stating that the temple was under their maintenance and they were permitting authorities to let in Scheduled Caste people into the temple.
Following this, the Dalits of the village entered the temple along with the authorities on the auspicious Vaikuntha Ekadashi on Monday.
Nearly 300 policemen were deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incidents. Overjoyed villagers entered the temple with drums and offered their prayers.
This is the second such incident in Tamil Nadu in the last 10 days. Earlier, scheduled caste people were escorted to Ayyanar temple in Vengaivayal village in Pudukottai by collector Kavitha Ramu and other officials.