A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court challenging a government order (G.O.) issued by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department on May 17, 2022, permitting devotees to climb the Kanakasabhai Mandapam to have darshan of the deity at Sri Sabhanayagar (Natarajar) Temple at Chidambaram in Cuddalore district.
The litigant, T.R Ramesh, president of Temple Worshippers Society, has questioned the authority of the government to pass such a G.O. with respect to a denominational temple administered by the Podhu Dikshitars for over 2,000 years. He claimed that even the HR&CE Act, 1959, does not confer any right upon the government to interfere with denominational temples.
The petitioner stated that Tamil Saivism considers the Tamil-speaking Vedic Saivite community, known as Chidambaram Dikshitars or Thillai Moovairavar (meaning the three thousand of Chidambaram), as the first among the Saivites. Such recognition was made out in Thiruthondathogai sung by Saint Sundaramurthi Nayanar in the 9th Century.
According to the Saivite belief, even Lord Natarajar, the presiding deity of the temple, is one among the Dikshitars. The numerically small but ancient community of the Podhu Dikshitars was bound by practices and procedures connected with the rituals and administration of Sri Sabhanayagar Temple.
In 2022, an individual, named M.N. Radhakrishnan, filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking permission for the devotees to climb the Kanakasabhai Mandapam. The court disposed of the case, leaving it open to the HR&CE Department, the Cuddalore Collector and the secretary of the Dikshitar committee to take a call after the threat of COVID-19 subsided.
Pursuant to such an order, the government called for remarks from the Collector as well as the HR&CE Commissioner with respect to permitting the devotees to climb the Kanakasabhai Mandapam but did not seek the view of the Dikshitars who were opposed to it since the Kanakasabhai is also considered a holy puja area.
Referring to the recent controversy over the issue, he said, “No true or regular devotees are complaining about the disallowing of darshan from the Kanakasabhai Mandapam... Only non-believers and some motivated groups encouraged by political outfits against the Hindu religion have made a non-existent issue into an issue.”
Further, citing a couple of judgments passed by different Division Benches of the High Court in 1951, the petitioner said that in both judgments, the Natarajar Temple had been recognised as a denominational temple. Civil appeals filed against those two judgments were dismissed by the Supreme Court in 1954, he added.
“Even if the G.O. under challenge is considered to be an executive action of the State under Article 162 of the Constitution, it cannot interfere with the rights of a citizen, or in this case a denomination, without
