39-year-old Dalit woman keen to reclaim ‘Odhuvaar' post

With holy ash smeared on her forehead and a rudrakasha mala adorning her neck, S. Angaiyarkanni, 39, renders hymns from Thevaram in front of portraits of deities in her house. The flawless rendering r

With holy ash smeared on her forehead and a rudrakasha mala adorning her neck, S. Angaiyarkanni, 39, renders hymns from Thevaram in front of portraits of deities in her house. The flawless rendering reverberates along the narrow bylane that leads to her residence at Sembattu in Tiruchi and a spirit of bhakti pervades her house. Ms. Angaiyarkanni, a Dalit, was the first woman appointed as Odhuvaar at Panchavarnaswamy Temple in Woraiyur in Tiruchi in 2006. Though she no longer holds the cherished position that she occupied for seven years, her devotion to God stands out. She is now knocking at the doors of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Department to become an Odhuvaar again. “It was my desire right from younger days to become an Odhuvaar, a position usually held by men in temples,” says Ms.Angaiyarkanni, whose late father was a labourer.