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ARTICLE : You're not a son of the soil, Karnanidhi tells Ganesha
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To: GHEN News <ghen@netcom.com>
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Subject: ARTICLE : You're not a son of the soil, Karnanidhi tells Ganesha
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From: Ashok V Chowgule <ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in>
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Date: Sat, 28 Sep 96 14:17:09 EDT
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ReSent-Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 03:32:30 -0400 (EDT)
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Title : You're not a son of the soil, Karunanidhi tells
Ganesha
Author : V R Mani
Publication : The Times of India
Date : September 26, 1996
Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, president of
the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has raised a piquant
question: Is Lord Ganesha a native of T.N. or not? Ac-
cording to him, the elephant-headed god's origins are not
Tamil.
Mr Karunanidhi says that it was way back in 630 A.D. that
a lieutenant of the Pallava king, Narsimhavarman, defeat-
ed the Pulikesi king at Vathapi, the capital city of the
Chalukyas (now called Badami in Bijapur district in
Karnataka). While returning home, he "brought" back a
statue of Ganesh. it was for this reason that even today,
during music programmes, songs in praise of `Vathapi
Ganapathi' are sung.
Mr Karunanidhi argues that this proves that Ganesh was a
"native" of Vathapi and did not belong to Tamil Nadu.
Mr Karunanidhi believes that Ganesh worship was used in
the north as a tool to attack the minorities. It had
spread to Tamil Nadu as well. However, he clarifies, he
would participate in the Ganesh festival if it was con-
ducted in one place with one idol, his self-confessed
atheism notwithstanding.
Several years ago, the Dravida Kazhagam (DK), the mother
of all Dravidian parties, had indulged in Ganesh-bashing,
publicity breaking up idols of Ganesh or Vinayakar, as he
is called in the state.
The founder-leader of the DMK C. N. Annadurai, who was a
devout follower of DK leader `Periyar' Ramaswami Naicker,
had then said, "We will neither break the idols of Vi-
nayakar nor break coconuts for him."
Mr Karunanidhi controversial statement that Ganesh is a
non-Tamilian has not evoked any major political reaction
so far. However, researchers and scholars as well as
letter writers to local newspapers do not seem to have
accepted the chief minister's stand. One letter writer
asked why Lord Muruga, the brother of Ganesh, was consid-
ered to be a Tamil god whereas Ganesh was not. Another
wondered why Mr Karunanidhi had agreed to tie a rakhi on
'raksha bandhan' day but would not accept Ganesh because
he was of northern stock.
Marxia Gandhi, who has done research on the Ganesh cult,
says that even in the 4th century A.D., cult figures of
the elephant-headed god were found in north Arcot dis-
trict in Tamil Nadu. She contends that Ganapathi is an
agricultural god and, therefore, finds a place throughout
the country. it would hence be wrong to say that it was
only in the seventh century that it came to Tamil Nadu
from Vathapi. Also, there was no evidence to show that
the statue of Ganesh was brought from Vathapi.
Another scholar, Sathyamurthy, said that the Tamil saint
Ovvaiyar had in the fifth century A.D. sung about the
figure of Ganesh in elephant form. Also, Tirunanasamban-
dar describes Ganesh as 'Karimugan' (one with the ele-
phant face) in Thevaram (568 AD.)
Political critic Cho Ramaswamy also does not agree with
Mr Karunanidhi. Carnatic music programmes began with the
'Vathapi Ganapathi' song because it was created by
Muthuswami Deekshitar, one among the musical trio, and
also because it was in 'hamsadvani raga', the raga con-
sidered best for beginning a programme. In any case,
Deekshitar had not created just one song on Ganesh, but
16.
