Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 1290

Agasthiyar and Lopamudra idols at Papanasam Agasthiyar Falls to be reinstated

By
The Commune
-

The idols of Sage Agasthiyar and Goddess Lopamudra at the Agasthiyar Falls at Papanasam, which were washed away by floods recently is set to be reinstated soon, announced Mr. Ravikumar who had installed the earlier idols.

The Agasthiyar Falls is located in the Western Ghats close to Papansam Lower where River Tamiraparani originates. The Kalyana Theertham near the falls is of spiritual significance. Earlier, pictures and videos started doing the rounds on social media that the idols of Sage Agasthiyar and his consort Lopamudra were damaged by miscreants and that the falls is being diverted.

Later, District Forest Officer Gautam clarified that the idols were damaged in January due to the floods caused by torrential rains. Both the idols got washed away in that flood. Due to the COVID and lockdown, people were not being allowed to visit the falls which led to rumours spreading that the two idols were broken by miscreants. He said that the water from the falls cannot be diverted and the water is flowing through the falls undisturbed.

The two damaged idols will now be replaced by Dr. Ravikumar who had installed the earlier idols in October 2012. He had also built a mandapam there out of his own expense with the permission of HR&CE department. He had said that as soon as he got to know about the idols getting washed away in the floods, he immediately got permission from HR&CE department to install new idols.

The new idols are being carved by Sthapati Santhanakrishnan from Chennai. The new Agasthiyar idol would by 3 feet high and the Lopamudra idol would be 2.75 feet high which will be installed post the lockdown and other restrictions.

(With inputs from Dinamalar)

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

 

“You will get cure in mosques, not hospitals”, TN Maulvi instigates Muslims to defy lockdown and go to Mosques

By
The Commune
-

In a video doing the rounds on social media, a Muslim cleric from Tamil Nadu asks Muslims to not be afraid of corona virus and pray at mosques defying lockdown saying that ‘Allah’s cure’ will only descend upon mosques and not hospitals.

The video has been titled “lessons to learn from Palestine” in which one Maulana Shamsudeen Qasimi spews anti-Semitic vitriol. He calls Jews as “dogs of the hell” and “cowards” and further goes on to say that every atrocity and injustice happening in the world is because of Jews.

“If Quran says that Jews have the curse of Allah and every other living being in this world, then you can infer what kind of spoilt rogues they are.”, he says.

He also openly instigates saying that Palestinian Muslims are brave fighting the Jews unlike Muslims in India.  “I have seen for myself the bravery of Palestinian kids. The Jewish Military would be standing there with guns. Our children (Palestinian children) would go near them and shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ and scare them away”, the Maulvi says.

He goes on to narrate how he and his friends became teary eyed when he asked a young kid of Palestine to come India and the boy had replied asking if he would get shahadat (martyrdom).

“Such is the spirit, bravery and state of mind of people there that has helped them save the 1st qibla (Al Aqsa mosque). But look at us. We are scared of one ‘ordinary’ corona and have locked ourselves in homes without going to Mosques. Even if someone goes, there are some shameless people who inform the police saying ‘they are doing prayers here’, ‘they are congregating there’, ‘they are going to mosques’ putting us in fear.”

He also goes on to say that it is of no use crying and praying for Palestine but Muslims should learn from them and get ‘Iman’. He also urges Muslims to go to Bait Al Muqqadas (Al Aqsa Mosque) once in their lifetime and before going to Mecca or Medina.

The Maulvi further goes on to say that the corona virus is just like any other flu and is being portrayed as a killer. “We are getting scared of it and saying that we won’t go to mosque. Shifa (cure) descends upon mosque. The place where cure for all diseases descends upon is Mosque. The place that obstructs all difficulties is Mosque. The place that protects from all difficulties is Mosque. But we have closed these mosques and are ready to move towards hospitals.”

He further goes on to say that coronavirus is a threat to life only for ‘kafirs‘ but should instill fear on God for Muslims.

He asks Muslims to not stay put inside homes fearing corona virus but go to mosques and pray. “The government says stay inside homes? Okay. You can close your business, close your shops, don’t go to office, don’t roam around freely, don’t go to market.. It is okay.. But never stay without going to mosques.” he says.

“You will get cure in mosques, not hospitals. Allah’s blessings descend upon mosques, not hospitals.” and adds that temples and churches are not the same as mosques as they do not receive Allah’s blessings.

“It is only in mosques that you get Allah’s blessings. You pray as a Jamaat or individually, with or without social distance. It is all your wish. But maintain connection with Mosque. This is what we should learn from Palestine people”, he concludes.

This video of the Maulvi speaking has now gone viral on social media. The YouTube video has got more than 37,000 views.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

1200 year old goddess statue found in Kanchipuram

By
The Commune
-

An idol of the ancient Pallava Goddess about 1200 years old has been found near Uttiramerur. The Uttiramerur Historical Research Center has unearthed a statue of Jyeshta Devi, also known as the Pallava Elder Goddess, about 1800 years old, in the village of Ullambakkam near Vayalur in Kanchipuram District. It is customary to find a statue of Jyeshta Devi there whenever reconstruction work is being done near the temples.

Information about Jyeshta Devi, who was the deity of Nandivarma Pallava, is mentioned in Sangam literature and by poets like Avvaiyar. The Goddess .

On the left side of the statue are the daughter Mandi and on the right side, the son Mathan is seen in the shape of a cow’s head. There is a crow symbol on the head of this goddess.

The present statue found near Uttiramerur is similar. This statue is one and a half feet high which is visible from the outside and the remaining portion is buried underground. The neck of the statue is adorned with a crown, bracelets on the shoulders and the hands, etc. This idol was called the Elder Goddess because she is the elder sister of Goddess Lakshmi.

Earlier, a 1000-year-old idol of Jyeshta Devi was found in the temple area when municipality workers were digging a canal near the Kulambeeswarar temple.

Prior to that, a treasure chest containing gold was found in the Uttiramerur area when villagers were involved in the demolition and reconstruction work of the Kulambeeswarar temple. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department and the district administration took custody of the gold, despite villagers demanding that this should not be added to the government’s treasury and that it was to be kept in the temple once it was renovated.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Sewage blocks entrance to Pollachi Subramania Swamy temple, HR&CE turns blind eye

By
The Commune
-

Devotees and the public have complained that the sewage coming out of the municipal toilet in front of the Pollachi Subramania Swamy temple is causing nuisance to the area. However, despite multiple complaints, there has been no action from the HR&CE department to rectify.

The overflow of wastewater in front of the Subramanian Swamy Temple near Pollachi is causing serious hygiene issues to those in the vicinity. There is a municipal toilet on Kuttai Karaikal Ammayar Road near Karaikal Ammayar Road where the temple is located. The sewage from this toilet stagnates in the sewers on Karaikal Ammayar Road. The flow of sewage water on the road has caused great inconvenience to the people living there and to the devotees who come to the temple posing threats to health.

People have expressed fears that the sewage going through the front of the Subramania Swamy Temple will tarnish the sanctity of the temple and pose a risk of disease spread. It is said that the sewage has been stagnant for several months and no action has been taken till now despite appealing to the municipal administration and HR&CE officials.

With people already suffering from the coronavirus and no hospital beds, the failure of the municipal administration to take care of the sewage tank, which poses a risk of spreading diseases such as dengue malaria, has caused dissatisfaction among the general public in the region.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Propaganda outlet Alt News tries to prove toolkit was not prepared by Congress

By
The Commune
-

As the discussion heats up on the alleged Congress party “ToolKit” that was created to undermine the Modi government and exploit the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in the country, the so-called ‘fact-checker’ Alt News has declared that the document allegedly prepared by AICC Research Department is forged on a real letterhead

Alt News, which has a notorious history of peddling propaganda and fake news, gave a clean chit to the Congress party after it examined the ‘original’ document of the Congress. AICC Research Department chairman Rajeev Gowda in fact gave documents and statements to Alt News to proclaim the toolkit to be fake.

The article which appeared on their website says, the letterhead of the Central Vista document it received from the Congress party did not match with the one on the party’s COVID-19 toolkit and therefore the document was fake.

According to them since the font on the header and footer of the two documents were different, it was a fake document and not created by the Congress party.

However, fonts could have deliberately kept different for plausible deniability by the Congress party, which is now trying to keep distance from the document if it becomes public.

The Alt News argument lay thin when they said that all documents published by the Congress party have to use the same typographical style because even the same person can use different fonts in different documents and for a political party like Congress, it is not possible to maintain the same style of fonts on various documents published as people have a different style.

Alt News then says the toolkit is a document for the future course of action and strategies as most of the point of actions suggested in the toolkit had already taken place and therefore it not genuine.

However, actions of the toolkit had already been implemented as part of a strategy where it calls to support friendly journalists and social media influencers and the maligning of the Kumbh Mela as a ‘super spreader’ event are one such example that appears on the toolkit.

But the fact remains that the attempt to malign the government and the image of India was part of the toolkit strategy and it is impossible that the document is only just a few days old and has been in use by the Congress IT cell for the same time period.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Indian Army starts its own cafe at the LoC, to host people from J&K as well as other parts of country

By
The Commune
-

The Indian Army has opened its very own cafe at the Line of Control (LoC). This cafe is all set to serve visitors who come to see the Kaman Aman Setu, which is the endpoint of India’s forward post. This cafe is open not only to the people residing in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir but also to visitors from other parts of the country.

“We have opened the coffee shop for everyone visiting the Kaman Post for motivational purposes for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, after having a selfie at the bridge, people can come and have snacks here and they can take home several souvenirs to take along with them. A sixty feet national flag flutters at the LoC”, said Vishal Dev, Major Indian Army.

This venture would not have been possible a couple of years ago, thanks to Pakistan’s constant ceasefire violations. But, after an agreement was established between these two countries, the cafe has been established at Uri and is now open to the public.

Speaking about this, Qazi Ahmad, a local resident said, “After the division of the two countries, people who were related, friends became distant. When both the countries worked on improving the relations. All the distance was completely finished when these steps were taken. A coffee shop has been opened and it’s to grow the relationships between people and army. The way army has won hearts of people here is worth appreciating.”

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Kanchi Mutt donates ₹25 lakhs to CM Public Relief Fund

By
The Commune
-

The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Sankara Mutt issued a statement that the Mutt has donated ₹25 lakhs to Chief Minister Public Relief Fund.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had called for people to donate whatever they can to the Chief Minister Public Relief Fund to help the government in its fight against COVID19.

Many industrialists, cinema actors and other philanthropists have been donating to the CM Public Relief Fund.

The Kanchi Mutt in a press release on May 19 said that it has donated ₹25 lakhs to the Chief Minister Public Relief Fund following the appeal made by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin.

It said that Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal made the donation through the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Trust.

The Trust’s Manager N. Sundaresan, and other Trustees DS Raghavan, DR Rajagopalan and Pammal Viswanathan met the Chief Minister in person at the Secretariat and handed over the cheque.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Assam to convert Madrasas into general schools

By
The Commune
-

Newly elected Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday (18 May) as one of his first directives has initiated the process of transition of dissolved Madrassa to general schools.

This directive was a promise made by the previous Sarbananda Sonowal led government.

The new BJP CM made it very clear that the process of transition of dissolved Madrassa to general schools must happen immediately as he goes for a comprehensive review of the functioning of the Education Department in presence of Education Minister Ranoj Pegu and Finance Minister Ajanta Neog.

Also, on the top of the priority list is the recruitment of teachers, particularly in provincialized and government schools and to meet the periodic gap, reports The Economic Times.

In December 2020, as the Opposition legislators protested, the Assam Assembly passed the Assam Repealing Bill 2020, that abolishes the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Employees and Re-Organisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.

The bill ensured all government funding given to the madrassas ended, and that the existing over 620 madrassas would be converted to general schools by 1 April 2021 and was opposed by Islamists and left parties.

The current CM was then the Education and Finance Minister of Assam and Sarma, who introduced the bill said that it will make the academic environment of the state “secular” and the state government cannot run madrasas because “the government cannot spend public money for religious teaching”.

Before the bill was passed the state government of Assam was spending ₹260 crore annually for running the archaic madarassas whose only focus was on the religious study of Islam.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Tirupur Sivan Malai Temple’s unique way of praying

By
The Commune
-

At the famous Sivanmalai temple near Kangeyam in Tirupur district, six medicinal herbs including tulsi, neem, turmeric and vilva have been kept for worship in the box called the Aandavan Kattalai box to pray for the country to recover from the Wuhan Virus pandemic.

There is a famous Subramania Swamy Temple at Sivanmalai near Kangayam in Tirupur district. In this temple, it is customary to perform special pujas by placing certain objects in a glass box named Aandavan Kattalai. The special feature of this box lies in the process of selection of the material placed here.

Legend says that Lord Sivanmalai Murugan appears in the dreams of devotees and selects the object of worship periodically. Accordingly, after the devotees come to the temple and confirm that the lord has selected this by offering flowers, special pujas will be performed by placing the object in the temple. Devotees then proceed to place it inside the glass box in the room opposite the garbagriha in the temple. This is why it is called the Aandavan Kattalai box.

The object placed here is considered to be a moniker to the events that will take place nationally. Worship will continue with the object already placed until Lord Murugan comes in the dream of another devotee and tells them what object to keep inside the glass box for worship. The last time that this puja was performed was with saffron and was held from April 23 to last Monday.

In this situation, it is said that Lord Subramanya, who came in a dream of a devotee from Erode district, told him to worship with tulsi, neem, vilva, arugampul, vibudhi and turmeric powder this time. So at present all these six objects are worshiped and placed in a glass box and placed for the view of the devotees.

(with inputs from Kathir News)

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Land belonging to Chidambaram Math occupied; HC sends notice to Collector on steps taken to recover

By
The Commune
-

The Madras High Court has directed the Cuddalore District Collector to file a report on the steps taken to remove the encroachments on the lands belonging to the Chidambaram Guru Namashivaya Murthy Math.

Radhakrishnan, a native of Salem, had filed public interest litigation in the Madras High Court alleging that the properties of Guru Namasivaya Murthy Math in Chidambaram, Cuddalore district, were occupied by encroachers and requested the court to pass order to restore it.

The petition came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices Anita Sumanth and Senthilkumar Ramamurthy. Public prosecutor Neelakandan appeared for the Tamil Nadu government before the bench.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judges ordered the Government of Tamil Nadu, and HR&CE Department to reply to the petition and directed the Cuddalore District Collector to file a report on the steps taken to identify and remove the encroachments. The Judges adjourned the hearing of the case to July 8th.

(with inputs from Hindu Tamil)

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

1...1,2891,2901,291...1,716Page 1,290 of 1,716
TheCommune
The Commune is a news and views portal focusing on social and political issues of the southern part of India with a focus on Tamil Nadu.
Contact us: thecommune.news@gmail.com
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube

NATIONAL NEWS

© The Commune 2025. All Rights Reserved.