Activist fulfils vow, Irish devotee cremated

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Manimaran, a noted social worker in the temple town of Tiruvannamalai, who had a chance meeting with an Irish devotee of the town’s presiding deity lord Arunachaleswarar, kept his promise by cremating her body on Wednesday.

Anna Lucy (75) of Ireland, who landed in Tiruvannamalai 15 years ago, became an ardent devotee of Lord Arunachleswarar and was impressed by the town’s serene atmosphere. She settled in the town and switched over to Indian ways wearing a sari and bindi and lovingly called herself Meenakshi Ammal. During a chance meeting three years ago, Meenakshi while talking to Manimaran witnessed a funeral procession and requested him to cremate her in a similar way.

Sadly, the decomposed body of Meenakshi was found in her house at Nedungavadi village by a person on July 23. Police exhumed her body and sent it for post-mortem on July 27. The autopsy confirmed that she had died of natural causes and old age.

Asked about the reason for the 6-day delay in cremating her remains, Manimaran told DT Next, “Police had preserved the body in the mortuary as they had to receive permission from her relatives abroad. Once this was received, the police requested me to do the needful. After this, I and 12 other volunteers together cremated the body at the ground near the Isanya Lingam on the Girivalam path as per Hindu practice.”

“We purchased one litre of green camphor (pachai kalpuram) and used 3 kg of turmeric (manjal) and cremated the body in the presence of police officials,” he added.