Realizing the value of thousand year Tamil Jain idols lying abandoned on a paddy land, a Ramanathapuram village came together to protect them. Sculptures of Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, and Mahavira, the last and 24th Tirthankara, of Jainism were lying abandoned on a paddy land in Mel...
On May 15, Pope Francis canonized Blessed Devasahayam Pillai (1712 – 1752) from Tamil Nadu as saint at a grand event that started with the singing of the Mother Tamil song (Thamizh Thai Vaazhthu) in Vatican. Saint Devasahayam Pillai is the first lay Indian to be canonized as saint. Manoj...
Pattina Pravesam ritual is the practice of carrying a revered saint, usually the head of a monastery or mutt, in a palanquin as a mark of respect to the guru by his or her followers. Typically, after a pooja to the guru is done, the guru is carried on a palanquin around the mutt, across the...
The terrible disaster of 11 people including three boys dying of electrocution in the Kalimedu accident joins the long list of religious events that kill scores in India annually. The apparent cause of the pre-dawn carnage is a tall cut-out of serial lights tied to the carriage that came into...
Sallekhana: For the unaware, fasting to death may seem painful but it is one of the sacred tenets of Jainism. A tall, lean man with a visible rib cage lies on the bed with his left leg slightly folded towards his right leg. The elderly man is surrounded by Jain nuns who offer prayers, holding...
At a time Hindu-Muslim divisions are peaking, Saeed Naqvi’s play The Muslim Vanishes imagines what India would be like, as the name suggests.
As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, Pongal is the biggest festival of the year. Pongal is a secular festival and celebrates farming which forms the backbone of the population. It may well be that the exclusive focus given to Pongal by Dravidian parties in power has likely boosted the profile of...
One tweet by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Islamic affairs has led to debates and controversies around Tablighi Jamaat across the world. The tweet doesn't stop with the statement on the ban on the Tablighi Jamaat but said that the Jamaat is a gateway of terrorism. To understand Tablighi, we have...
With minarets and domes, mosques across the country reflect the distinct Indo-Islamic architectural features. But there is a string of mosques along Tamil Nadu’s coast which reflect Tamil or Dravidian style of architecture. Most of these mosques on the coast were constructed between 1200 and...
(The first part of this series traced the history of government control of temples, second dealt with whether other religious places of worship have similar government control. This is the third and concluding part. The articles are part of the Matchup section that provides a platform for...
