My god is yours too, but I'll still fight you

In a path-breaking verdict, the Madras High Court intervened in a fight between two factions of the same fan club by saying the idol with whom both the parties are besotted would not want them to fight. To put things in context, the idol in question is God, specifically in the form of the river Goddess Gangai Amman as venerated by many Hindu Tamils. Bring in a property dispute into religion and, as usual, we have something combustible. Which is why the court has decided that one of the two Gangai Amman temples in a Kancheepuram village that was sealed at the behest of one of the squabblers will remain sealed until the two kiss and make up.

“No god demands that people should fight over worshipping him (sic),” noted the priest of the secular temple of the land. As Gangai Amman was absent at the proceedings, it was left to the court to speak for her. Sectarian squabbles between people of the same ‘religion’ can be befuddling for those outside that faith. Feuds and worse involving Shias-Sunnis, Lata fans-Asha fans, Protestants-Catholics, Modi BJP bhakts-Advani BJP bhakts can seem exceedingly odd for the outsider. But as the high court rightly pointed out, whether it is gods or playback singers, deities don’t want their fan base split. Not unless, of course, they have okayed an all-out schism for strategic reasons.