Chennai: Madras High Court has ordered the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology to take control of a temple in Salem where a Buddha idol is being worshiped as Thalaivetty Muniappan.
In 2011, a petition was filed by Ranganathan, a member of the Buddha organization from Salem and it said, "In the land under the control of the charity department in the village of Periyeri in Salem district, a Thalaivetty Muniappan statue was placed and worshipped, although it is the statue of Buddha."
"Not only the statue but also 26 cents of land there belongs to the Buddha organization. Therefore, despite filing a petition with the Department of Archaeology and the Chief Minister's Special Unit to recover the place and hand it back to the Buddha organization. But no action was taken," he added.
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court heard the case and ordered the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department to investigate and submit a report as to whether the statue is a Thalaivetty Muniappan or a Buddha statue. According to the report filed, it was stated that the statue is of Buddha. However, on the part of the government, a request was made to allow the charity department to continue worshiping the statue of the Thalaivetty Muniappan as the devotees have continued to worship it.
Judge Anand Venkatesh, who has issued an order in this case, said, "While the Department of Archaeology clearly says that it is a statue of Buddha, the Department of Charities cannot allow it to be considered as a statue of Thalaivetty Muniappan. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department should take control of the site where the Buddha statue is located. There should be a want to place a notice board saying that there is a statue of Buddha. And the public can be allowed in that place. But poojas should not be allowed to the Buddha statue."
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In this case, J. Barnabas, General Secretary of Salem Historical Society said, "In Attur circle, it is notable for having two large Buddha statues. Especially in the year 16 AD, Jains and Buddhists were driven out during religious conflicts. The heads of the Buddhist and Jain sculptures which were worshiped were also broken and thrown away. That is how the head of the Buddha statue in Salem Fort was broken."
"The head of this statue was refitted. But the statue is tilted to the Thalaivetty Muniappan because the head has been cut off and reattached. As the head was cut off and then attached, people started worshiping him as Thalaivetty Muniappan. As the Madras High Court has ordered the Talivetty Muniappan statue and the Buddha statue, the statue will be handed over to the Archaeology Department".
In this regard, Salem District Archaeology Department officials said that they would start the process to recover the site of Muniappan Temple by cutting off the head and making it a Buddha temple.
