All India Adi Saiva Sivachariyargal Seva Sangam has approached the Madras High Court against the insistence upon completing a certificate course in Agama Sastras for being eligible to be appointed as Archakar (priests) in various temples in the State.
The litigant association contended that such insistence by 38 temples in the State was aimed at “eliminating” the Sivachariyars who get trained by religious Gurus from young age and amounts to “favouring a few who are keen on destroying and wiping out prevailing customs.”
In his affidavit, B.S. Muthukumar, general secretary of the petitioner association, said, it had about 1,500 members and the prime object of the association was to espouse the cause of Sivachariyar / Gurukal performing puja in Saivite temples.
“The terms Iyer or Brahmin are often misunderstood to denote Sivachariyar and used interchangeably. I respectfully submit Sivachariyar are not Brahmins or Iyers but an independent lot constituting a separate denomination,” the affidavit read.
From time immemorial, Sivachariyar were believed to be slaves of Lord Shiva and their primary duty was to perform puja in Saivite temples as per the Agamas and Vedas. Similarly, the Bhattachariyars conduct puja and homam in Vaishnavite temples.
“Those who are experienced in Agamas do not undergo any certificate course. Instead, they obtain Diksha (initiation) from the Guru of their sect at a very early age and undergo rigorous Vedic education for a minimum period of three years.
“Thereafter, they are groomed to perform puja and homam for another three to five years before taking over as Archakar,” the association said and opposed the insistence on completing a certificate course from government institutes.
Initially, the association had filed the writ petition by including the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department and only one temple, the Kolanjiappar Temple at Manavalanallur in Cuddalore district as respondents to the case.
Then, Justice Anita Sumanth had ordered maintenance of status quo as on August 8 and directed the HR&CE department to file its counter by August 25. She also called for the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Institutions Employees (Conditions of Service) Rules of 2020.
However, now the litigant association had moved an application to implead 37 other temples including the Subramaniaswamy Temple in Tiruchendur, the Prasanna Venkatachalapathi temple in Thuraiyur and the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai.
The impleading application has been listed before the judge on Monday.
