Symbolism of Sengol

Symbolism of Sengol

Subject: History

Section: Art & culture

Context: The inauguration of India’s new Parliament saw an ancient South Indian tradition symbolising a dharmic kingship ceremonially resurrected, when the PM accepted a sengol from priests and installed it near the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair.

Concept:

• A sengol—or chengol—is a royal sceptre, signifying kingship, righteousness, justice, and authority, among other qualities linked to the correct wielding of power.
• Its origins lie in TamilNadu, and it served as a kingly emblem.
• Among the Madurai Nayakas, for example, the sengol was placed before the goddess Meenakshi in the great temple on important occasions, and then transferred to the throne room, representing the king’s role as a divine agent.
• It was also, therefore, a legitimising instrument: the Sethupatis of Ramnad, for instance, when they first attained kingly status in the seventeenth century, acquired a ritually sanctified sengol from priests of the Rameswaram temple. It marked the ruler’s accountability to the deity in the exercise of power, as well as his graduation from chiefly status to a more exalted kingly plane. As such, the sengol may be described, in its historical context, as a symbol of dharmic kingship.
• Besides, some oral accounts mixed with a few scattered facts say that Nehru was presented a sengol by Hindu leaders from TamilNadu in 1947 as a mark of honour, and he, in turn, received it in good spirit.