Even before assuming duty today, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister M Karunanidhi rushed to keep a date. Without the usual official paraphernalia, he quietly entered the Chennai museum in the heart of the city and demanded to see ‘Kannagi’.

‘‘She was in a terrible state — dusty and even chipped in places. The Chief Minister appeared upset,’’ a close aide told The Indian Express. He then ordered that she be cleaned up immediately.

Among the early and many promises that the Tamil Nadu’s new Chief Minister would be keeping is to restore ‘Kannagi’, symbolising Tamil womanhood, to her rightful place on the picturesque Marina Beach front, another pride of the city. ‘Kannagi’ is the legendary heroine of the ancient Tamil literary work Silapathigaram and is seen as an enduring symbol of Tamil culture and chastity. Her statue, installed in 1968 during the DMK reign, under C N Annadurai, and which has been part of the city’s landscape, was removed in December 2001 by the AIADMK government, reportedly after warnings of doom by astrologers and ‘vaastu’ experts.

When the statue was removed, the local media had gone to town with reports that Jayalalithaa’s astrologers had warned her that if ‘Kannagi’, painted all black, holding an anklet in her left hand and her right hand pointing imperiously to the city, ‘demanding justice’, was not removed, then it could bring misfortune to her. Incidentally, the AIADMK chief, whose party registered a resounding victory in the 2001 Assembly election, had to step down as Chief Minister in September after being convicted in corruption cases. The doomsday predictions couldn’t have come at a worse time.

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