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SrI:

Dear Members :

My thanks are to Sriman Sudarshan for sharing
this article .

I am reelasing this article for the sake of 
presenting the other side of the story from 
a News Paper , which is accused often of 
hiding under rationality to avoid unpopular stands .
That is its prerogative.

In this e-list , we will be fair and share 
the views from both sides (Vaadhis & PrathivAdhis).

V.Sadagopan   


Dear members,

Here is an article from the Hindu dt. 1 june'06. It should be of great topical 
and current interest to many list-members. Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan 

=============================================================
This article has been sent to you by M.K.Sudarshan ( 
mksudarshan2002@xxxxxxxxxxx )
=============================================================
Source: The Hindu 
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/06/01/stories/2006060105551100.htm)
Opinion
 - 
News Analysis
  
 
Temples and traditions
 
 
 
A. Srivathsan
 
 
Opening up of temples and the priesthood to all castes is part of the fight 
against discrimination based on birth. 
 
 
 
 
ON JULY 8, 1939, a few Dalits entered the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple and 
were given prasadam and honours due to any devotee. This sounds like an 
everyday event until we remind ourselves that it was the first temple in the 
Madras Presidency that allowed Dalits entry. The Hindu then reported that 
leaders such as Gandhi and Rajaji were ecstatic over this. Subsequently, the 
Temple entry Authorisation and Indemnity Act was passed in August 1939.
 
Temple entry for Dalits was achieved after a long campaign. In the case of 
Madurai, it started as early as 1874. It, however, was not accepted easily. 
Priests in Madurai boycotted the temple. Some left its service and rejoined 
only in 1945. In Cuddalore and other places incidents of stone-throwing were 
reported. A few women's groups vociferously resisted this. A visit to these 
temples now reveals that neither the faith in their sanctity nor the crowds 
thronging them has waned. If anything, they have only increased manifold. 
Resistance, it appears, was vigorous only at the threshold of change.
 
It is important to recall this the context of the recent developments in Tamil 
Nadu. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Government recently passed an order 
allowing qualified persons irrespective of caste to become temple priests. The 
order challenges what is considered the last preserve of the Brahmins. It has 
received opposition from certain sections and has raised issues about the 
waning sanctity of temples and disrespect to tradition, texts, and practices. 
Questions have been raised as to whether matters relating to religion and 
worship can be changed? What role does the state have in interfering in such 
matters?
 
It is important to view the present order as a part of a long corrective 
process. Discrimination based on birth is fundamentally flawed. The privileges 
and hierarchy built around a discriminatory worldview have to change. If temple 
entry for Dalits was the beginning of such rethinking, opening up of priesthood 
for them can be taken as its conclusion.
 
The idea of appointing Dalits as priests finds place in the 1969 report of a 
Government of India-appointed committee headed by Elayaperumal, a prominent 
Congress leader from Chidambaram. This committee studied the economic 
development of the underprivileged, from 1965 onwards, and submitted its report 
in the Lok Sabha. Among other things, it suggested the abolition of hereditary 
priesthood and replacing it with an "ecclesiastical organisation of men 
possessing the requisite educational qualification" as priests. It also stated 
that the priesthood could be open to anybody regardless of caste and creed. The 
appointment of Dalits as priests was considered an important step towards 
social justice and development of the underprivileged.
 
In 1971, the DMK Government abolished the hereditary rights of the priests and 
paved the way for people of all castes to be appointed as temple priests. A few 
criticised this for allowing "all and sundry" to become priests. Subsequently, 
a stay order was obtained against the decision in the Supreme Court. In 1982, 
M.G. Ramachandran, the then Chief Minister, appointed the Justice Maharajan 
Commission to look into the reforms of temple practices. This committee too 
recommended appointment of priests from all castes after undergoing proper 
training. In 1984, as a follow-up to these recommendations, announcements were 
made for starting an agama college for all communities in Palani. The All-India 
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government soon dropped this idea, but revived 
it in 1991 only to drop it again.
 
In October 2002, the Supreme Court upheld a Kerala High Court judgment that 
allowed non-Brahmins to officiate as priests. The Bench, comprising Justice S. 
Rajendra Babu and Justice Doraiswamy Raju, observed that any custom or usage, 
irrespective of its existence in pre-Constitution days, cannot be countenanced 
as a source of law to claim any rights when it is found to violate human rights 
and social equality. It also remarked that if traditionally Brahmins alone had 
been performing the jobs of priests, it might be because a person other than a 
Brahmin was prohibited from doing so. Hence it observed: "There is no 
justification to insist that a Brahmin alone can perform the rites and rituals 
in the temple as part of the rights and freedom guaranteed under Article 25 of 
the Constitution."
 
The pride of the Constitution is that it does not allow any form of 
discrimination. The state is within its right to challenge and correct all 
forms of discrimination. The state and the judiciary can look at not only what 
a "religion was" but also "what it can be." In such a pursuit, traditional 
texts and practices are subservient to social objectives. This might not sit 
well with the traditional idea of a secular state, but we have our own 
histories and social trajectories to deal with rather than worry about a 
perfect fit. Marc Gallanter's Law and Society in Modern India shows that the 
broad constitutional mandate disposes of the notion that the law might confine 
itself to ascertaining and respecting a preordained religious sphere. Instead, 
it has an overall arbitral role to perform. In this particular case, it has 
arbitrated the issue of discrimination and social justice.
 
Religion and worship have evolved. The evolution includes modification of 
viewpoints, incremental changes, and flowering of new thoughts as witnessed in 
temples.
 
The temple as an institution flourished in the bhakti period. The bhakti 
movement, which was centred in south India, moved away from ritual orthodoxy 
and laid emphasis on devotion. It deified people of varying caste backgrounds 
as saints. Both the Vaishnavite and Saivaite traditions have deified 
non-Brahmin Alwars or Vaishanava saints and Nayanmars or Saivite saints. Not 
only have they been deified, there are temples and festivals commemorating 
their devotion. These accommodations did not severely challenge the then social 
set-up. But they showed the need to change religious practices and make them 
inclusive on the basis of devotion, not on the basis of birth.
 
 
Culture of inclusiveness
 
 
 
Contemporary temple practices too have undergone changes. Temples have taken to 
simple offerings, local language, and social inclusiveness. Temples expanded in 
scope and scale because they drew larger participation. They now own property, 
runs colleges and hospitals. Ritual patterns are conveniently chosen at a few 
places and changed at a few others. Hinduism has accepted temples built 
overseas and priests and acharyas visiting them. If we were to go by texts and 
their prescriptions, this could be unacceptable. We seem to have come to terms 
with the new diasporic conditions.
 
If we define tradition only through texts, then practices such as opening of 
temples to Dalits and abolition of the Devadasi system can be viewed as going 
against the agamas. The presence of fans, tube lights, and air conditioners in 
temples can also be seen as being against agama injunctions. The Maharajan 
committee too warns us against this.
 
Opening up of temples and the priesthood to all castes is a fight against 
discrimination based on birth. What is required is to expand the definition of 
discrimination and include women in it. It is time for the question: when will 
women be allowed to become priests?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Copyright: 1995 - 2006The Hindu

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly 
prohibited without the consent of The Hindu




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