Zakir Hussain was born in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu and has been a Bharatanatyam artist for the past 30 years. He is a Vaisnava. He is also a speaker. He has received various awards including the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Social Harmony Award from the Government of India and the Natya Selvan Award. Indian artist Zakir Hussain donated a diamond crown worth hundreds of thousands of rupees to the famous Srirangam Aranganathar temple in Trichy. A diamond crown was presented to the temple committee as prasad. Zakir Hussain awarded the crown to Maria Pan and Chief Priest Sundar Bhattar.
Zakir Hussain was born a Muslim and was passionate about Vaishnavaism. Therefore, in December 2021 last year, when he went to the Aranganatha Temple in Trichy for Sami’s darshan, he was not allowed. A lot of controversy arose when Zakir Hussain was prevented from entering the temple by a man named Narasimhan in the name of his religion. Zakir Hussain posted about the incident on his Facebook, saying: “Though I am a Muslim by birth, I follow the Vaishnavite religion and follow the Vaishnavite Identity life. When I went to see the Akala people, they stopped me and followed me and said this was not right.
Thereafter, Zakir Hussain lodged a complaint with the Trichy city police chief. He said Vaishnav was peacefully visiting Akara while living his own life. But there I speak the name of my religion. He insulted me and drove me away from there. I have also done Tirupani in many Vaishnava temples.
We complain to the police
However, one person refused to let me enter the temple. It was seen by thousands of devotees and temple committee personnel. Now the temple administrator and priest allow me to name the religion. Never said no. He said the person should be arrested immediately and investigated for compromising India’s sovereignty and religious harmony. Following this, Hindu Religious Endowments Minister Shekhar Babu said appropriate action would be taken.
There are 17 district government music schools operating on behalf of the Department of Arts and Culture in Tamil Nadu. While the incident of Zakir Hussain being intercepted inside the Perumal temple caused huge controversy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin appointed Zakir Hussain to 17 district governments in January 2022 Music school consultant.
It took 8 years to build the crown
A diamond crown worth hundreds of thousands of rupees was gifted to the Arunath temple, which Zakir Hussain had previously been barred from entering. Zakir Hussain said that the design of this crown uses 3,000 160-carat rubies, 600 diamonds and emeralds. Although he was a Muslim by birth, he received the blessings of Alanganatha. He also told us that this was the world’s first diamond crown made of rubies. It took about eight years to make the crown. The temple administration garlanded Zakir Hussain as a mark of respect.
