Women To Be Priest In TN Temples
- 19-Jun-2021
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Hindus of all castes would be appointed as priests in over 36,000 temples under its department. Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR&CE) Minister P K Sekar Babu recently informed on this move.
It is also said, women could also be appointed as priests in temples following stipulated training. The government will take measures to provide appointments to qualified priests before the newly elected DMK government completes 100 days.
The announcements, particularly regarding temples opening doors to women priests, have triggered heated debates in the state.
While social activists have welcomed the move as they aim at gender and caste parity, there are others who feel the government should not interfere with agama sastra — a manual for temples that has norms related to pujas and other rituals in temples besides guidelines on structure and construction of shrines.
Tamil Pe Maniarasan, president of Tamildesa Podhuudamai Katchi, said the initiative to appoint non-Brahmin priests in temples began during the era of social reformist and rationalist Periyar E.V. Ramasamy when he launched the agitation to eradicate discriminatory practices against non-Brahmin priests.
In 1971, Kalaignar Karunanidhi amended the HR & CE Act to abolish the hereditary appointment of priests which paved the way for non-Brahmins to become priests. Many outfits challenged the Act and later Kalaignar informed the public that the Supreme Court had struck down the amendment.
In 2006, the DMK government again issued an order where it mentioned that any Hindu possessing requisite qualification and training can be appointed as Archaka in temples. It was again challenged by many outfits, including Sivachariyargal Nala Sangam, in the Supreme court. The case continued for many years, and in its judgment in 2015, the court didn’t strike down the DMK’s order but allowed any qualified Hindu to be appointed as priest in Hindu temples.
