Raid-hit TTV Dinakaran seeks divine intervention

Dinakaran has rushed to Pratyankara Devi temple near Gingee to change the trajectory of his stars. He was seen performing Gau Pooja (worshipping cow) with his wife when taxmen had knocked on his door on Thursday. Not content with worshipping the “holy cow” to appease tax gods, the nephew of Sasikala, clad in his usual white veshti (dhoti) and beige colour shirt, on Sunday took his family to the abode of goddess Kali for a special pooja, all to ward off evil and envy. 

Perhaps, he must have taken cue from his ‘jailed’ aunt Sasikala Natarajan who had undertaken regular pilgrimages in the past, that too in the elite company of his deceased ‘akka’ and former state Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, for good health and prosperity. The image of Sasikala and Jayalalithaa exchanging garlands during one such pilgrimage was once considered a collectors’ pride. The long list of temples the ‘sisters’ had toured, especially in neighbouring Kerala was once headline worthy news. As much as the visit, a few of their offerings to gods had made many a pious people envious. For instance, Jayalalithaa had once gifted a diamond studded gold crown and a 15-year-old tusker to Guruvayurappan Temple. In the city, Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were once seen worshipping at the Vinayagar temple in Kotturpuram in the wee hours as well. 

Most recently, a pious Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami took a dip in the Cauvery during Maha Pushkaram. Not so long ago his incumbent deputy and then CM O Panneerselvam had undertaken the Sabarimala pilgrimage, only to be unseated by Palaniswami soon. 

Significantly, divinity was not a preserve of only one of the two Dravidian majors. Atheist DMK also has its share of bhakts. DMK working president MK Stalin’s wife Durga had reportedly performed a special pooja at a temple off Chennai to usher in good luck ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections, which, the party had eventually lost.