The Madras High Court Bench here on Friday came across a case of different sets of ‘andaas’ (large cooking vessels) used to cook Koozh (porridge) for people belonging to different caste groups during the annual Aadi festival of Chellayee Amman temple at Veerapandi Panchayat. This practice is akin to the discriminatory two-tumbler system, reportedly prevalent in some tea shops.
Disapproving of such a practice, a Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and G.R. Swaminathan ordered that allocation of different vessels for devotees belonging to different castes should be stopped forthwith and that the porridge should be distributed to all from common vessels.
The judges, however, desisted from permitting the Dalits to participate in the Mulaippari festival and asked them to approach a civil court.
During the course of arguments, Mr. Justice Swaminathan told the festival organisers: “Don’t separate the ‘andaa’ on the basis of caste. It would be like the two-tumbler system.”
He gave the advice after two organisers, K. Arutselvan and S. Ragunathan, were summoned to the court to ascertain the veracity of the allegations, levelled by public interest litigation petitioner M. Manikandan, of untouchability being practised in the temple festival.
The organisers told the judges that there was no question of untouchability since the temple priest was a Dalit and that people from all caste groups receive prasadam as well as vibudhi (sacred ash) from him.
Insofar as cooking of koozh was concerned, they said there was no discrimination in purchasing groceries and other articles either.
Devotees from different caste groups were asked to share the porridge from vessels allotted to them for the sake of convenience, they said.
