[E]xamines one of modern India’s most serious tensions.’
MANU S. PILLAI
‘This book is timely, coming as it does when the nation is debating the role that religion is playing out in politics and the contradictions it presents in a constitutional secular democracy.’
INDIRA JAISING
‘This is an extraordinary and pathbreaking work’
PROF. (DR) C. RAJ KUMAR
As India continues to grapple with questions of caste, access, equality and the meaning of secularism in public life, The People’s Sanctum: The 100-Year Struggle to Democratize Temples in India arrives as a timely and deeply relevant intervention. Marking a century since the historic Vaikom Satyagraha, the book traces one of the most significant yet underexplored social justice movements in modern Indian history, the struggle to democratize Hindu temples and challenge caste-based exclusion. Moving from the streets around the Vaikom Mahadeva Temple to constitutional debates and contemporary reforms, the book illuminates how battles for dignity and access transformed not only places of worship but also the very idea of equality in India.
At its heart, however, The People’s Sanctum is a profoundly human story. It chronicles generations of ordinary Indians who challenged inherited hierarchies, fought for recognition and expanded the boundaries of citizenship and belonging. Through stories of protest, perseverance and social reform, the book reveals how questions of faith and access are inseparable from questions of human dignity. For Indian readers, it offers an opportunity to revisit a century-long journey that continues to shape conversations around social justice, representation and inclusion in everyday life.
Written by Manuraj Shunmugasundaram, lawyer, political commentator and student of the Dravidian movement, The People’s Sanctum combines rigorous research with accessible storytelling. Practising before the High Court of Madras and the Supreme Court of India, and a regular contributor to leading publications including The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Times of India and Hindustan Times, Shunmugasundaram brings both legal insight and historical depth to this important account of one of India’s most transformative social movements.
