Thulasendrapuram is a village in

Tiruvarur district Thiruvarur district is one of the 38 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. As of 2011, the district had a population of 1,264,277 with a sex-ratio of 1,017 females for every 1,000 males. Geography The district occupies an area of 2,161 ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. It is about 7 km from

Mannargudi Mannargudi () is a Municipality in Thiruvarur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Mannargudi Taluk, Mannargudi taluk. The town is located at a distance of from the district headquarters Thiruvarur, 12 ...

and 300 km from the state capital

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. In 2020, its population was approximately 350.

Relationship to Kamala Harris

Thulasendrapuram was the home of P. V. Gopalan, an Indian career civil servant who was the maternal grandfather of

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

, the 49th

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

. In 2014, when Harris served as the

Attorney General of California The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the government of California. The officer must ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" ( Constitution of California, Article V, Section 13). ...

, she donated to the village's temple dedicated to the deity

Sastha Shasta (IAST Śāstā) is a Hindu deity, described as the son of the deities Shiva and Mohini, Vishnu's female avatar. In South India, he is identified with the Ayyanar, Nattarayan or Sattan in Tamil Nadu, as Ayyanayake in Sinhala and the A ...

, and her name was engraved on the temple's list of donors. Harris gained fame in the village when she was elected as the Vice President of the United States in 2020, and the people of Thulasendrapuram celebrated her victory with a communal feast, firecrackers, and prayers. When Harris began her presidential campaign in the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

, residents installed a large banner depicting her outside of the village's main Hindu temple. Prior to the election, locals rallied and prayed to

Aiyanar Aiyanar (, ) is a Tamil folk deity venerated in South India and Sri Lanka. His worship is prevalent amongst rural Tamil people. Some studies suggest that Ayyanar may have also been worshipped in Southeast Asian countries in the past. He is pri ...

for her victory. Harris has never visited Thulasendrapuram, and does not have any immediate family living there. Despite this, she is especially popular among the women of the village, who commonly refer to her as "sister" or "mother" as a sign of respect. Arulmozhi Sudhakar, a politician of Thulasendrapuram, described Harris as "a daughter of the land".

References

{{Thiruvarur district Villages in Tiruvarur district Indian-American history Kamala Harris

Relationship to Kamala Harris

See also

References