In Pictures: How Kamala Harris’ ancestral village in Tamil Nadu is praying for her victory in US elections

The United States’ election day is here. Voting is now open for Americans who will select their next president. It is a knife-edge race between Democrat nominee Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent Donald Trump.

With the world’s eyes on the US election outcome, a tiny hamlet in Tamil Nadu is busy praying for Vice President Kamala Harris’ victory. Under the media glare, the residents of Thulasendrapuram take pride in the Democratic candidate, highlighting her connection to the village.

Harris’ maternal grandfather, PV Gopalan, lived in the village a century back before moving to Chennai, about 300 km away. He worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.

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The US VP has recalled walks with her grandfather on a Chennai beach, saying his lessons on democracy “at a very young age… first inspired my interest in public service.”

Harris, who was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, may have never set foot in the sleepy hamlet but the villagers see her as their own.

Locals talk about Harris and the key swing states that will decide her and Trump’s electoral fate. Several banners and billboards with the US Vice President’s face have come up in Thulasendrapuram, wishing her good luck in Tamil.

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People gathered at the Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple on Tuesday (November 5), as the US went to the polls, to pray for Harris. As per Reuters, as sacred chants reverberated, the temple priest held prayers for her, ending them with the pronouncement: “Kamala Harris should win.”

“Our deity is a very powerful God. If we pray well to him, he will make her victorious,” M Natarajan, the temple priest who led the prayers to the Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva, told Associated Press (AP).

“Our village ancestors’ granddaughter is running as a US presidential candidate. Her victory will be happy news for every one of us,” he added.

At the temple, one can find Harris and her grandfather’s names engraved on a stone bearing the list of public donations. Her aunt, Sarala Gopalan, donated Rs 5,000 for the temple’s renovation a decade ago in Harris’ honour.

The temple on Tuesday welcomed rare foreign visitors, including two American and one British woman wearing “Kamala Freakin Harris” shirts and chanting “Go Kamala!”

“I am very pro-Kamala, so I wanted to experience her native village. It was important for us, as women, to come … to honour her,” Devony Evans, a Chennai-based expat who hails from Seattle, Washington, told Reuters. She said she voted for the Democratic candidate in the crucial elections.

A banner outside the temple, erected by the local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar, wishes “the daughter of the land” success in the US presidential elections.

“We prayed last time and she had become the Vice President. This time we are confident she’d become the President of the USA,” she said to NDTV.

For women in the village, Harris is an inspiration. Speaking to AP, Sudhakar said, “From the time when women were not even allowed to step out of their house, to now a woman from our village contesting in the US presidential election — this brings happiness for us. The coming generations will see her as a role model to succeed in life.”

The local councillor told NDTV that she will serve free meals of idli – Harris’ one of the favourite South Indian foods – if the Democrat wins.

The US VP’s American friend Sharon, who is now based in Chennai, said she has to win the election to “save democracy”. “She [Harris] has to become the first woman President of the US. Already we are pretty late with many countries including India [which] have had women Presidents and Prime Ministers,” she told NDTV.

Not just in her grandfather’s village, special prayers were organised for Harris at Palvancha in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district on Monday.

Harris has not visited India much but has often spoken about her mother Shyamala Gopalan’s Indian roots. Born in India, Gopalan moved to the US when she was 19 and became a cancer researcher.

In a campaign video titled “Mother”, which was shared on Harris’ account on Tuesday, the narrator says at the end: “This daughter of Shyamala, this daughter of the American story, is ready to lead us forward.”

My mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, came to the United States from India at 19. She taught me and my sister, Maya, about courage and determination.

It is thanks to her that I am ready to lead us forward. pic.twitter.com/rVdVAIylTe

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 4, 2024

Harris is engaged in a close fight with Trump. And it might take days before we know whether she scripted history by becoming the first woman president of the US or not.

With inputs from agencies

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