On the Dharma Sastha Temple in Thulasendrapuram, round 50 individuals gathered on Tuesday morning to witness rituals organised to wish for the victory of US presidential candidate Kamala Harris. This historical temple, devoted to the village’s prime deity and regarded the Harris household’s ancestral shrine, drew an uncommon mixture of nationwide and worldwide journalists who had travelled from Chennai and Delhi.
A number of locals joined the group, together with the temple priest, his aides, and Arulmozhi Sudhakar, the native DMK panchayat councillor, alongside together with her husband, Sudhakar, who coordinated the preparations.
Arulmozhi expressed optimism about Harris’s prospects, saying the village is able to have fun if she wins, with particular pujas deliberate for Wednesday morning ought to early outcomes be beneficial.
“We’ll supply prayers for her good well being, and host an annadanam, or meals providing, with idli and sambar, her favorite meals based on her shut family in contact with the temple,” she stated.
In response to Arulmozhi, neither her celebration, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, nor Kamala’s household requested them to have fun. “There’s nothing political. We have fun contemplating her as a lady from this village,” she stated.
Whereas a lot of the village’s connection to Harris was rediscovered when somebody recognised her identify on a stone donor plate on the temple and probed the household roots when she grew to become the Vice President, Sudhakar stated that Kamala’s “mirrored glory” has already introduced tangible advantages.
Contemplating her roots on this village, the Metropolis Union Financial institution just lately introduced a Rs 1 crore grant to revive Thulasendrapuram’s historical village lake, a undertaking villagers hope will renew the land Harris’s household as soon as known as house.
Thulasendrapuram, close to Mannargudi, is a village of roughly 7,000 individuals. It revolves across the Dharma Sastha Temple, which hosts 47 deities, together with Perumal, Ananda Sivan, Vinayakar, Murugan, Kaali Amman, and Durga, in addition to seven goddesses. The chief priest highlighted the importance of Dharma Sastha, whose idol uniquely faces west, not like most temples within the area the place idols face east. He added that the village as soon as had 96 agraharams, conventional Brahmin quarters, now decreased to only 15.
“Kamala’s grandfather and his predecessors lived right here throughout a time when Brahmin households had been distinguished within the village,” the priest stated.
Natarajan, a village elder and the chief priest of the temple, recalled that Thulasendrapuram’s fame was initially tied to Ganapati Sastrigal, one of many closest individuals to the 68th Kanchee seer, Mahaperiyavar. He stated that the Harris household’s ancestral house and land have since handed by way of a number of house owners, making them untraceable immediately.
Among the many small crowd on Tuesday was Devony Evans, an American expatriate from Seattle now dwelling in Chennai. “I voted and got here right here as a result of it felt essential to be right here immediately,” she stated after attending the temple rituals.
Sudhakar, husband of the panchayat councillor, stated that some villagers had adorned their homes with kolams, conventional flooring designs, to have fun Harris. “We’re so glad for her tenure as Vice President, and we’re assured she is going to win. She is the voice for girls within the US, and her smile brings pleasure to each girl right here,” he stated.
If Harris wins, the village plans to host an annadanam for all villagers, serving idli and sambar. Sudhakar added, “All that is our personal effort; her household hasn’t reached out as her aged aunt is in Chennai they usually should be anxious forward of the outcomes. However we imagine they’ll go to us after the outcomes.”
