What problem does the Tamil Nadu government have in laying a road to the temple of Kannagi, the embodiment of chastity? In the 2000 years since Silappathikaram was written, it can be said that there has not been a single year without worship. Kannagi Amman, who bestows her grace seated atop the Vindhya-like rock, continues to be worshipped at the very place where she ascended to the heavens along with Kovalan. Cheran Senguttuvan, who built this temple, was not a Malayali—he was a Tamil king of that time. This was even before the Malayalam language was formally shaped. Born in the lineage of the three great Tamil dynasties, Senguttuvan is said to have gone to the Himalayas, defeated Kanaka Vijayan, and brought back a sacred stone carried on his head. A portion of the idol carved from that stone is still under worship even today—this should not be forgotten. The idol was later broken into three pieces. One part was seized by the Peermedu court, and its whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Another part was handed over to the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi, and that too has not been traced so far. Let that be one side of the story... From the 1970s onwards, there has been a plan from the Kerala side to construct a road to the Kannagi temple through dense forest areas via Kumily and Kokkara Kandam. Behind this idea lies a significant economic motive. Kerala, which does not possess many large-scale ancient historical monuments, saw the 2000-year-old Kannagi temple as a valuable opportunity. For a state that earns substantial foreign exchange through tourism, the Kannagi temple was viewed as a potential revenue-generating center. In that perspective, their intention had its own logic. There were even attempts to build a resort near the temple through the forest department and lease it out. If not for the intervention of then Member of Parliament Sudarshan Nachiappan, Kerala might have developed this into a major tourist destination by now—possibly even exaggerating its antiquity as 20,000 years to attract foreign tourists and generate revenue. Several such attempts around the Kannagi temple were made but failed—perhaps due to the fierce spiritual power associated with Kannagi. In later years, members of the Kannagi Trust, with good intentions, approached the Kerala High Court in Ernakulam, seeking that the Kerala government rebuild the temple. The High Court even ordered the Kerala government to renovate the temple at a cost of ₹1 crore. However, fate intervened—the effort was stalled by the Archaeology Department. The matter is currently under appeal in the Supreme Court. All the trials Kannagi faced in Madurai seem to continue even today. The temple, which stands as a symbol of justice, has still not received justice itself. If the efforts taken by the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran had succeeded, we would not have witnessed the unfortunate situation where a Kerala DSP entered the sanctum last year for security duty. Even more disturbing was the sight of 10 Kerala police personnel standing at the eastern entrance, preventing access through that route. Based on the 1971 survey conducted by the Uthamapalayam Head Surveyor (and earlier periodic surveys from the British era), the Tamil Nadu government must immediately re-establish and clearly demarcate the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border near the sanctum. If the boundary—said to be 33 meters away from the temple edge—is not clarified, there is a strong possibility of future disputes between the two states regarding the temple. The Tamil Nadu government must also not ignore how deities like Durga and Ganapati came to be installed near the Kannagi sanctum. When Kannagi ascended to the heavens, the place was a forest. Why should Kerala impose other deities in a place that originally belonged to Kannagi alone? #Brahmin_Political_Party #SaiSudhaDevaTrust #DevaJobPortal #GenNextDigital #SaiDevGroup