For dalits, no resting place for their dead in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: In Mulanur and neighbouring villages in Tirupur district, arunthathiyars, a dalit sub-sect, bury their dead along the bunds of a small stream. This is their resting place because no burial site has been allocated for them.


“There are incidents when the bodies were washed away following heavy rain,” said Tirupur CPM functionary N Kanagaraj, who has raised the need for a burial ground for the arunthathiyar community (Scheduled Caste) several times.

This is not a case in isolation. Dalit Liberation Movement state general secretary S Karuppaiah said a survey conducted in 156 settlements in selected taluks in five districts found that close to 60% of the arunthathiyar settlements did not have burial grounds. The five districts include Tiruvannamalai , Dindigul , Tirupur, Villupuram and Karur.

“Of the 156 settlements, 87 did not have burial grounds. In the remaining settlements, the burial grounds are either encroached upon or lack facilities including approach roads. Majority of them bury the dead along the banks of waterbodies,” he said. They have petitioned chief secretary K Shanmugam to address the issue.

In one incident that made headlines last year, residents of a dalit settlement in Narayanapuram, Vellore were forced to lower the body of a 56-year-old man from a bridge as they had no approach road to reach their burial ground.

Of the 38 settlements surveyed in Tiruvannamalai, 18 did not have burial grounds. The remaining were encroached upon, forcing them to bury their dead on roadsides or abandoned government poromboke land or river banks.

The worst-hit among the surveyed settlements were those in Tirupur. Thirty-five of the 41 settlements in two taluks did not have burial ground. “There was a law and order problem in 1999 in Puthuppai village over the issue. But the government failed to redress the problem. The situation is the same in Kangeyam, Vellakovil, and Kangeyam taluks,” said R N Dalit Subramani of Vellakovil. “It sad that these people are fighting for burial rights even 75 years after Independence,” he said.

But this was more than a civic issue. In many cases, the bereaved families and their relatives face the wrath of other caste members to carry out the rituals and give a decent burial for their loved ones. Tiruvannamalai district president of the movement Amul Swamy said in areas such as Arni and Chengam taluk the burial issue often led to law and order problems.

In Ambedkar Nagar, Tiruvannamalai, there are 5,000 Arunthathiyar families. A land was allocated for a burial ground, but the villagers belonging to the dominant caste have encroached it for three decades, the survey found. In another area, the earmarked site was encroached upon and a house built.

In many villages, the practice of burying the dead in backyards still exist in the absence of burial grounds.