🦚 முருகன் யுகம்🚩
— J.K.GogulBalaji (@JKGogulBalaji) February 4, 2025
திருப்பரங்குன்றம் முருகனுக்காக மதுரை பழங்காநல்லதத்தில் கூடிய காவிப்படை 🚩
வெற்றிவேல் முருகனுக்கு அரோகரா !#SaveThiruparankundram #Thiruparankundram #Madurai pic.twitter.com/CIg8fxrEOd
As per the local reports, the court had granted permission to Hindu Munnani to organize a protest between 5 pm and 6 pm at Palaganatham Roundabout. However, the demonstrations were organized amid the prohibitory orders issued by the police under section 144 for 2 days, February 3rd and 4th.
Thousands of Murugan devotees participated in the protest and raised slogans hailing Lord Murugan and Hindus. People from across Tamil Nadu participated in the protest, including women. Also, more than 50 Hindu organizations, including the BJP, the RSS, Hindu Munnani, Hindu Front, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad participated, raising slogans against the Islamization of the Thiruparankundram hill.
திருப்பரங்குன்றம் மலையை மீட்டெடுக்க நடக்கும்,
— Hindu Munnani (@hindumunnani_tn) February 4, 2025
மாபெரும் அறப்போராட்டத்தின் சில காட்சிகள்…#முருகன்எதிரிதிமுக #SaveThiruparankundram #முருகன் #HinduMunnani pic.twitter.com/KZunr8gpNY
Several videos of the protest went viral on social media, and the Hindu participants were seen raising saffron flags and slogans to protect the ancient temple of Lord Murugan on the hills in Madurai. The protest eventually concluded before 6 pm, after which heavy police and security continued to be deployed in the area.
🚩Hindu voices roaring in TamilNadu!
— 🇮🇳 Sangitha Varier 🚩 (@VarierSangitha) February 4, 2025
Against the Izzlamics attempted take over & their anti Hindu Dravidian support.#Thiruparankundram the sacred Kandhar Malai,belongs to our Lord Murugan & Hindus alone.@hindumunnani_tn is going all out to protect our faith 🚩… pic.twitter.com/0xpkianGje
This comes days after the Tamil Nadu police in the Madurai district issued orders barring the Muslim community members from transporting livestock for sacrifice to the claimed Sikandar Badusha Dargah located atop the Thiruparankundram hill. The police said that the community was allowed to transport cooked meat and consume and pray on the hill, but the ban was only imposed on the transportation of livestock like chicken, goat, etc for sacrifice.
The said order created religious tension in the district as the hill houses the old Murugan Temple, close to the Dargah. Indian Union Muslim League MP Nawaz Kani took cognizance of the event and talked to the police then. However, the authorities firmly stated that the restriction would remain in place for the transportation of animals for sacrifice atop the hill.
Following this, Kani said that the devotees used to take goats and hens atop the hill for sacrifice, cooking, and consumption, and this process should be restored.
The entire issue is believed to have begun last year on 27th December after a Muslim family led by Syed Abu Dahir, a 53-year-old from Malaiyadipatti attempted to take animals on the hill for sacrifice. The police detained the family which further irked 20 Islamists to protest against the police. Recently on 5th January, a massive protest by Muslims was organized at the bottom of the hills where the protestors demanded free access to pray at Dargah atop the hill. Given this, the police made several detentions after the Muslims engaged in a major scuffle with the authorities. The Muslims claimed that Sultan Sikandar built the Sikandar Badushah Thozhugai Pallivasal approximately 400 years ago.
#JUSTIN | தொழுகை நடத்த அனுமதி கோரி ஆர்ப்பாட்டம்
— Thanthi TV (@ThanthiTV) January 5, 2025
மதுரை, திருப்பரங்குன்றம் மலை மேல்
உள்ள பள்ளிவாசலில் தொழுகை நடத்த அனுமதிக்க கோரிக்கை – போலீசார் அனுமதி மறுப்பு
ஆர்ப்பாட்டத்தில் ஈடுபட்டவர்கள் வலுக்கட்டாயமாக கைது; காவல்துறையினர், போராட்டக்காரர்கள் இடையே தள்ளுமுள்ளு#Madurai |… pic.twitter.com/4Vs7Pr7a4T
On 18th January then, the Muslims led by the SDPI organized Sammanboj on the hill in which they had planned to sacrifice goats and chickens for meals. The police were informed about the plans backed by several social media posts that affirmed the Muslim community’s intentions. Hindu Munnani members meanwhile resisted Muslims’ effort to sacrifice animals on the hill, one of Lord Murugan’s six sacred abodes. They said that Muslims were attempting to convert the hill into an Islamic place of worship.
The police then posed barricades on the site informing the Muslims that sacrificing the animals was prohibited atop the hill, however, they could carry the cooked meat and consume it there. Following this, clashes erupted between Jamath members and the police, further intensifying the situation.
On 21st January, DMK Manapparai MLA Abdul Samad conducted and unofficially survey of the hill and claimed control of the premise. Indian Union Muslim League MP Nawaz Kani also claimed that the entire property was Waqf property and every Muslim had the right to pray at Dargah the way he wanted. He reiterated that the sacrifice of animals atop the hill was an old tradition and that it should continue.
It is crucial to note that Thiruparanundram Hill is a religious site of crucial significance to Hindus due to the presence of ancient Jain caves and Lord Murugan Temple atop. Several Hindus have worshipped the temple for centuries. The Jain caves on the hill, which have now been painted green, also date back to the 2nd century BCE and these have Tamil Brahmi inscriptions on them, as surveyed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
However, the Muslims who are creating chaos around the hill have begun claiming the hills as ‘Sikandar Hills’ behind the Sikandar Badusha Dargah.
Muslims claiming ownership of the hills, calling it ‘Sikander Hills’
One may think that these claims by Muslims are recent after the police orders, however, the Muslims have been trying to claim the hills from the 19th and 20th centuries. The hill which is of most significance to Jains and Hindus is being claimed as ‘Sikandar Hills’ by the Muslims, posing a threat to the sanctity of the temple and Jain caves. Notably, in the past also the legal authorities affirmed that the Hills housed the Lord Murugan temple primarily and that Lord Muruga was the primary deity of the region.
In the year 1931, the Islamists made similar claims saying that the hill was a Muslim property and that its name was ‘Sikandar Hills’. The Privy Council on 12 May 1931 took cognizance of the matter and said that Thiruparankundram Temple had proven its historical possession of the unoccupied portions of the hill, treating it as its property for generations.
The council was hearing the matter over the confiscation of endowed villages and the presumption regarding the temple’s ownership of the wasteland around the temple. “the question at hand is whether any presumption should be drawn from the confiscation of the endowed villages concerning the property rights in the wasteland situated within the Ghiri Veedhi, which forms part of the Malaiprakaram. It is admitted that the village of Thiruparankundram, where the temple is located, was part of this endowment,” the Privy Council judgment read.
The Thiruparankundram Temple is one of the most revered temples in the southern part of India dedicated to Subramanya, the son of Lord Shiva. The shrine of the deity has also been carved from within the hill indicating the elongated and original presence of the temple for centuries. Around the hill is the two-mile pilgrim’s path where the devotees offer circumambulation (pradakshina) to the deity. The said path, Ghiri Veedhi is considered as the temple’s property. In 1144, the same was called the Malaiprakaram of the temple.
Historical records show no interference by Mahomedan invaders
During the council judgment in 1931, the Subordinate Judge clarified that ‘prakaram’ is the outer area of the temple and ‘Malai’ means hill. “The Thiruparankundram Temple had proven its historical possession of the unoccupied portions of the hill, treating it as its property for generations,” the subordinate judge said. Notably, historical records also show no interference by Mahomedan invaders on the hills.
Some of the Muslims, reportedly, might have built residences on the hilltop in the past, forcing the Hindus there to accept such development. However, the rights of the temple remained with the Hindus as granted by the East India Company, which recognized the temple’s ownership over the land. The then government also considered the entire hill to be temple property, as affirmed by the Subordinate judge.
“During some interval of Mahomedan domination that mosque and some Mahomedan houses were built, but this was an infliction which Hindu occupants of the hill could have been forced to put up with. Thus, rights which temple could assert against Respondent were rights which East India Company granted to them,” the original documents regarding the case read.
Local Hindus have alleged that under the guise of religious festivals, parts of the hill have been systematically encroached upon over time by the local Muslims. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government’s HR&CE Department has also been accused of Muslim appeasement politics, contributing to the further escalation of communal tensions.
