In a significant verdict, the Madras High Court on Monday made it “abundantly clear that pedigree based on caste will have no role to play in the appointment of Archaka (temple priest)“ if the person so selected to the post was well-versed, properly trained and fully qualified to perform pujas and other rituals as per the requirement of the Agama Sastra applicable to the temple concerned.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh said the Supreme Court had, in Seshammal & others versus State of Tamil Nadu (1972), held that the appointment of an Archaka to a temple would be a secular function, and only the performance of religious service by those priests would be an integral part of the religion. In that verdict, the apex court had clearly differentiated between a secular and religious function.
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“Therefore, the prescription provided by the Agamas gain significance only when it comes to the performance of the religious service. Ex consequenti, any person belonging to any caste or creed can be appointed as an Archaka provided he is a well-versed and an accomplished person in the Agamas and rituals necessary to be performed in a temple,” the judge wrote, while disposing of a writ petition.
In order to substantiate his conclusion, he further relied upon the 2002 Supreme Court verdict in N. Adithayan versus Travancore Devaswom Board, in which the customary claim for performance of rituals only by Brahmins or Malayala Brahmins, in particular, was negatived. The court ruled that the rituals could be performed by any trained person qualified to perform the puja in an appropriate manner.
“If traditionally or conventionally, in any temple, all along a Brahman alone was conducting pujas, it may not be because a person other than the Brahman is prohibited, but because those others were not in a position and, as a matter of fact, were prohibited from learning, reciting or mastering Vedic literature, rites or performance of rituals and wearing sacred thread by getting initiated into the order,” the apex court had said.
After quoting the Supreme Court, Justice Venkatesh said, “This is a further reiteration of the principle that the Archaka falls under the secular part.” He also agreed with Special Government Pleader N.R.R. Arun Natarajan that the temple trustees or Fit Persons appointed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department could go ahead with the appointment of Archakas to temples where the Agama to be followed was not in doubt.
The judge said all Archaka posts could not be kept vacant until a committee, constituted by a Division Bench of the High Court in 2022 under the chairmanship of retired judge M. Chockalingam, identifies the Agamic and non-Agamic temples in the State. He also took note of the SGP’s submission that the constitution of the committee itself was challenged subsequently, and it had stopped functioning following an interim stay granted by the court in February this year.
Therefore, the judge held that the appointments could proceed in temples whose Agamic practices were well-established. Since the writ petition before him was filed by Muthu Subramania Gurukal with respect to appointments in Sri Sugavaneswarar Swamy Temple in Salem, which follows the Karana Agama, the judge permitted the appointments in that temple too, and left it open to the petitioner to participate in the selection process.
