For atheist Karunanidhi, believers wish comes true

August 07, 2018 20:49

Religious Hindus, whether Saivites or Vaishnavites, pray for death on Ekadasi and their cremation on the very next day, namely, Dwadasi.

For, they believe Dwadasi is the day when gates of the heavens are opened as per the fortnightly zodiac signs under the Hindu almanac, which fall between every full moon and new moon day.

The belief is that those who breathe their last on Ekadasi day, that is the 11th day in the 15-day cycle, and are cremated on the very next day, are sure to be blessed with the heavenly abode.

Karunanidhi was a sworn atheist, but for believers among his cadres, it is a certainty that by dying on Ekadasi day and most likely being buried on Dwadasi, Wednesday, he would ascend to heaven.

But then, Karunanidhi's believer-critics have this to add: "By scripting the story of Sri Ramanujar (1017-1137), the Vaishnavite saint, for a Tamil serial on the family-owned Kalaignar TV, Karunanidhi has acquired the high position that every believer prays for."

It is another matter that Karunanidhi had declared before launching the serial that he was doing so to highlight the early social reform movement that Sri Ramanujar had initiated -- by defying tradition and traditionalists, and initiating the mass conversion of the untouchables of his time into Brahmins, by performing the required religious rites, including the 'sacred thread ceremony'.

-- N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai

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