Dalit once barred from temple now a demigod

With rains playing truant and crops withering in the fields, the desperate people of Shoolagiri and six neighbouring villages in Krishnagiri district, flung aside their caste differenc-es and conducted fire walk ritual for the rain Gods. 

 

However, what came as a huge surprise was that a Dalit boy, who was till now barred from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the village temples, was worshipped as a demigod and chosen to carry the idol of the rain god (Mazhai Rayappasamy).

 

Untouchability is still practised in many villages of Krishnagiri district. But the monsoon failure and the drought prompted the villagers belonging to the upper caste and Dalit community to unite and conduct a village festival to invoke the Rain God.

 

The festival began last Saturday with a Puja to identify a person who is eligible for carrying the rain god idol. During the festival, a woman in trance chose 18-year-old dalit boy, as godsend to carry the idol across the villages. The boy, who till now could not enter the temple, was allowed to stay inside the sanctum sanctorum of the village temple. He conducted the daily puja for the local deity.