"Cocking A Snook": Madras High Court Rules Govt Violated Order On Thirupparankundram Temple Lamp

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday evening came down heavily on the Tamil Nadu Government and the HR&CE Department for “wilfully disobeying” a December 1 order directing the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam lamp atop the ancient Deepathoon pillar at Thirupparankundram Murugan temple—one of the six sacred abodes of Lord Murugan. Despite the explicit directive, temple authorities lit the ceremonial lamp only at the century-old traditional spot near Uchipillaiyar Temple halfway up the hill, ignoring the court-mandated location near the hilltop dargah.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan, hearing a contempt petition filed by devotee Rama Ravikumar, recorded that “contempt has been committed beyond dispute.” The judge noted the Temple Executive Officer was unreachable, a hurriedly filed appeal was defective, and the dargah administration—the only party that could claim grievance—had filed no challenge. “The state administration has decided to cock a snook at this court’s order… Defying the order would sound the death knell of democracy itself,” he observed, citing Supreme Court precedents that no authority is above the law.

In an extraordinary late-night order, the court permitted the petitioner and ten others to climb the hill under CISF protection and symbolically light the lamp on the Deepathoon pillar immediately. The Temple Executive Officer and Madurai Police Commissioner have been summoned to appear personally on Thursday morning to explain the deliberate breach.

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The dispute stems from Justice Swaminathan’s December 1 ruling that declared the entire hill, including the unoccupied upper portion housing the dargah, as temple property based on a 1923 Privy Council decree. The judge had directed periodic lighting of the lamp atop the pillar to assert legal ownership and prevent adverse possession claims while clarifying that the dargah’s religious practices would remain undisturbed.

On the ground, Hindu and Muslim communities have coexisted peacefully for over a century, with the lamp traditionally lit at the lower Uchipillaiyar shrine. The court’s intervention has sparked political controversy, with the BJP accusing the DMK government of “appeasement” and “misusing” the HR&CE department against Hindu interests, while DMK leaders maintain the issue is being inflamed for electoral gain ahead of 2026 assembly polls.

As CISF personnel escorted the petitioner’s group up the hill to finally light the lamp late Wednesday night, the incident has reignited debates over judicial activism, religious harmony, and state control of temples in Tamil Nadu. The contempt proceedings resume tomorrow, with potential punitive action looming against senior officials for what the court termed a “deliberate and defiant” breach of its order.

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