Exclusive right to enter sanctum sanctorum is not untouchability: court

The Supreme Court, which ruled on Wednesday that appointment of archakas in Tamil Nadu temples as per the Agamas was not a violation of the right to equality, said the exclusive right given to a particular group or denomination to enter the sanctum sanctorum of a temple and perform rituals could not be construed as a practice of untouchability.

To justify this reasoning, the Bench referred to a century-old ruling of the Madras High Court in the Gopala Moopanar case which explained that the exclusion prescribed in the Agamas was not on the basis of caste, birth or pedigree. The Moopanar case revealed how some Agamas even excluded Brahmins from the sanctum sanctorum and duties of performance of pujas.

The judgment explained how in the first stage of mankind, worship was merely service to fellow creatures. Then notions of inferiority and superiority crept in among men and finally to settle the squabbles of men, sages introduced image worship in temples regulated by treatises known as Agamas and Thantras.

In the context of the Constitution Bench judgment of 1972 in the Seshammal case, the Supreme Court explained that Agamas were the “fundamental religious belief” of a particular sect.

“Agamas incorporate a fundamental religious belief of the necessity of performance of the poojas by Archakas belonging to a particular and distinct sect/group/denomination, failing which, there will be defilement of deity requiring purification ceremonies. Surely, if the Agamas in question do not proscribe any group of citizens from being appointed as Archakas on the basis of caste or class the sanctity of Article 17 or any other provision of Part III of the Constitution or even the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 will not be violated,” Justice Gogoi observed.

The court observed that inclusion or exclusion as per the Agama Shastras should not be based on the criteria of caste, birth or any other constitutionally unacceptable parameters.

It observed how the Tamil Nadu government had made an “offer” to appoint Shaivites as archakas in Shiva temples and Vaishnavas in Vaishanvite temples.

This, it said, only revealed the State’s “too naïve an understanding of a denomination which is, to say the least, a far more sharply identified subgroup both in case of Shaivite and Vaishanvite followers.”

The controversy dates back to 1959 with the enactment of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act. The statute, through Section 55, had upheld the right of hereditary priesthood in Tamil Nadu temples.

The State moved to abolish hereditary succession of priesthood by amending the 1959 Act. The abolishment of Section 55 was challenged in the Seshammal case.

A Constitution Bench upheld the abolishment of hereditary succession, but said the appointment of office-bearers or servants of the temples are required to be made from a particular denomination/ group/ sect as mandated by the Agamas, i.e. treatises pertaining to matters like construction of temples; installation of idols and conduct of worship of the deity.

Matters continued peacefully until the DMK government issued the Government Order on May 23, 2006, followed by an ordinance which amended the 1959 Act to introduce the provision that “any person who is a Hindu and possessing the requisite qualification and training can be appointed Archaka in Hindu temples.”