A symbol of revenge on Marina Beach

CHENNAI: When Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi made a surprise visit to the Government Museum at Egmore on Monday morning, two days after he took charge, there was only half the number of employees on duty. Karunanidhi did not bother for, the purpose of his visit was something more serious. He went into the room where the statue of Kannagi lay in dust and ordered it to be spruced up and reinstalled immediately.

 

A couple of years ago, the statue of the feminine symbol of purity and revenge (from the third Century Tamil classic Shilappadikaram), had mysteriously disappeared from its pedestal on Marina Beach. The police had removed it on former chief minister J Jayalalithaa's orders reportedly because her astrologer found it inauspicious to have the statue of a raging woman pointing her finger towards Fort St George. The DMK had made a hue and cry over the issue and got a duplicate statue installed in front of its youth wing office on Anna Salai.

 

On Sunday night, Karunanidhi visited the place where the statue once stood and on Monday morning visited the Government Museum where it was secretly kept by the previous government. There are more changes in the making. Immediately after the new ministry was sworn in on Saturday, the state government's website (www.tn.gov.in) sported a new look, with shades of brown replacing green. Former chief minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary, reportedly on her astrologer's advice, had been splashing green around.

 

All the public buildings - collectorates, hospitals, bus depots, opened in the last five years were painted in green; government functions were decorated with green buntings and backgrounds and the chief minister often wore a green saree. 

 

The new-look website, besides acquiring the new shade, has been virtually wiped clean of the previous government's political fingerprints. The National Informatics Centre (NIC), which maintains the site, however, has overlooked one thumbnail picture above the link 'Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly,' that shows the House in session, with Jayalalithaa in the chief minister's seat.

 

“I wish the government would pay more attention to cleaning up Marina beach than being obsessed with statues,” says Chandramohan Mudaliar, a resident.

 

 

Protagonist of the third century epic Shilappadikaram by Ilango Adigal.

 

Kannagi’s husband Kovalan leaves her for a courtesan and returns after several years.

 

Kannagi receives him and gives one of her anklets to him to go and start a business.

 

King Pandian’s men mistake it for the queen’s anklet and hangs Kovalan without trail.

 

Kannagi proves her husband’s innocence and her rage burns down the city of Madurai.

 

Kannagi or Kannaki Amman is eulogised as the epitome of chastity.