A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered that a single judge’s direction permitting both Vadakalai and Tenkalai sects of Vaishnavites to recite hymns at the Devarajaswamy temple in Kancheepuram be kept in abeyance.
The Bench said the Executive Trustee’s May 14 order permitting the Tenkalai sect alone to recite the hymns shall also be kept in abeyance.
Justices R. Mahadevan and G.K. Ilanthiraiyan passed the interim orders pursuant to the writ appeals preferred by T.A. Ranganathan and P.B. Rajahamsam on behalf of the Tenkalai sect. They had challenged the order passed by the single judge on Tuesday following a writ petition filed by the Vadakalai sect, questioning the validity of the Executive Trustee’s order.
On being informed that certain other cases were also pending before the court with respect to the dispute, the Division Bench decided to hear all those matters along with the present writ appeals after the summer vacation. They directed the Registry to obtain appropriate administrative orders from Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari for the listing of the cases.
“Till such time, the order passed by the Executive Trustee, a Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department officer in the rank of Assistant Commissioner, as well as the orders passed by the single judge, shall be kept in abeyance,” the Bench said, after hearing elaborate arguments advanced by a battery of senior counsel representing both sides.
While Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram represented the HR&CE Department, senior counsel P. Wilson, AR.L. Sundaresan, Hema Sampath and Srinivasa Raghavan argued for the appellants. Senior counsel G. Rajagopalan, Satish Parasaran and S. Parthasarathy and advocates V. Raghavacahari and Abhinav Parthasarathy represented the respondents.
According to the appellants, the single judge had failed to consider the fact that the Tenkalai sect held the exclusive adhyapaka rights for the prabandham service in Devarajaswamy temple, and they alone had the right of service of reciting the Tamil prabandhams before the deity during all pujas and processions inside and outside the temple.
They also claimed that their right had been unequivocally recognised and confirmed by the High Court in a judgment delivered on January 15, 1915, and also in another verdict delivered by the court on March 24, 1969. They also claimed that the court had, in an appeal preferred in 1910, injuncted the Vadakalai sect from reciting any of their prabandhams or mantras during puja and processions.
