As one group of litigants pursue a legal campaign to light a lamp at a specific stone pillar for the deity Murugan, marking Karthigai at Tamil Nadu’s Thiruparankundram hill temple, the focus has turned to the history of the practice and the ownership of the religious sites of Hindus and Muslims. The pillar stands near a dargah.

The worship of Murugan on the hill near Madurai at Subramania Swamy temple is, as per Madras HC records, mentioned in Sangam literature from at least 2,000 years ago, while the Sikkandar Badshah dargah was built on the hilltop during a phase of Muslim rule in the region. There has been a history of friction between the two communities, with civil litigation launched by the temple management in 1920, but the ground reality is that both sides maintained a general peace for a century, with the lamp ceremony being performed annually at an Uchi Pillaiyar temple located halfway up the hill, rather than at the stone lamp pillar (the deepathoon) located closer to the mosque.

Attempts by........

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