Archakas appointment: Form panel to identify Agama practices in temples, HC tells govt

Madras High Court has asked the State government to constitute a panel to study the Agma. Thereafter guidelines for the appointment of priest can be issued.

Chennai: The first bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to constitute a panel to identify the temples across the State, which followed which type of Agama (temple rituals), so that a list can be prepared, which can serve as a guide for the appointment of archakas (priests). The bench comprising Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice N Mala gave the direction on a PIL filed by Swami Rambadracharya and others challenging the archakas' appointment rules framed by the State government that came up for hearing on Friday.

Petitioner is the founder and the head of Tulsi Peeth, a religious and social service organisation in Chitrakuta in Madhya Pradesh and the lifelong Chancellor of the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University. He had been conferred with the Sahitya Akademi award for Sanskrit and recipient of Padma Vibhushan in 2015. He deposed as an expert witness in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi case and described the boundaries of the Janma Bhoomi as mentioned in the Ayodhya Mahatmya section of Skanda Purana, which tallied with the location of the disputed area.

The bench said that the panel shall be headed by a retired judge of the High Court with members well versed in religious practices. It shall be done within a month. Justice D Raju, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, is likely to head the panel. According to the petitioners, the state Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department is attempting to dilute the provisions of Agama to completely extinguish the Hindu Agamic knowledge systems that had been preserved and nurtured for thousands of years by sages, gurus and scholars. In temples in Tamil Nadu, people from all communities are already working as priests depending on the customs and traditions of the temples. The government's move to appoint priests defying temple traditions would amount to interfering with the religious affairs of Hindus, petitioners added.