Taking its anti-caste campaign to a higher level, the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu broke caste barriers in appointing 24 persons from across all castes, including Dalits, duly trained in the ‘Agamas’ as ‘Archakas’ (priests) to various temples to perform temple rituals.
Ending the 13-year-long wait since they completed their ‘Agamic’ training, Chief Minister M K Stalin handed over the appointment orders to the Archakas at a function organized by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department in Chennai on August 14.
Of the 24 ‘Archakas’, who got the job orders, five are from the Scheduled Castes (SC), six from ‘Most Backward Classes (MBC), 12 from ‘Backward Classes’ and another from a Non-Brahmin forward caste community. “I have fulfilled Kalaignar’s (former Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi) order today to help achieve Periyar’s objective,”Mr Stalin tweeted after the function.
The Archakas were appointed at Temples, including the Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, the Oppiliappan Temple, Kumbakonam, the Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple, Madurai, and the Vayalur Murugan Temple. The newly appointed Archakas had undergone training in the ‘Thirukovil Archakar Payirchi Pallis’ - Schools to train priests to perform rituals in Hindu temples as per their respective ‘Agamas’.
Mr Stalin was elated that the occasion coincided with the new DMK government completing 100 days in office, since he took over as Chief Minister on May 7 this year. He also handed over appointment letters to 184 others including some traditional Brahmin priests and ‘Oduvars (temple singers) who included a woman, to fill various vacancies in different temples in Tamil Nadu.
The HR & CE Minister, P.K. Sekar Babu, was among those present at the function.
The historic move marked the DMK shattering another glass ceiling with the appointment of ‘Archakas’ from all castes, which Mr. M.K Stalin described as “removing a thorn in the heart” of late social reformer Periyar.
It was in “fulfilment” of Periyar’s vision that people from all castes, trained in the ‘Agamas’ (treatise on procedures of worship, installation of ‘Vigrahas’ and regular performance of rituals to deities in temples as per respective religious traditions like Shaivite, Vaishnavite, etc.) should become priests. Periyar believed it was a progressive, reformist move against Brahmin domination of priesthood in temples over centuries.
Former Chief Minister, M. Kraunanidhi, during an earlier DMK regime in 2006, had passed a Government Order (G.O). enabling people from all castes to become priests of Temples, provided they had been trained in the relevant ‘Agamas’. The Government had first set up six schools for training youths of all castes in both ‘Shaiva and Vaishanava Agamas at different temple towns in the state.
SC COURT JUDGMENT ON ‘AGAMAS’ PAVES WAY
However, the 2006 G.O. could not be implemented for long years, as traditional ‘Archakas’ and one of their associations had challenged the G.O. in the Supreme Court. An ordinance issued by the then DMK regime was stayed and hence the G.O. slumbered in cold storage.
While DMK lost power in 2011, it was only in December 2015 that the Apex Court ruled that the appointment of Archakas of all castes in the temples in Tamil Nadu under the HR & CE Department “has to be made strictly in accordance with the Agama Shastras governing such appointments.”
While disposing of a batch of petitions filed by an association of ‘Archakas’ and individual ‘Archakas’ of Sri Meenakshi Amman temple of Madurai, challenging the G.O., a Division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana, did uphold the primacy of the ‘Agamas’ in temple worship. They entailed a religious belief that only ‘Archakas’ belonging to a particular sect/group/denomination could perform the priestly functions, or else there was risk of defilement.
However, the Supreme Court did not strike down the G.O., which implied that Tamil Nadu could implement it provided persons from all Hindu castes had the requisite training in the ‘Agama Shastras’. The Apex court ruling left objections to individual appointments as ‘Archakas’, to be redressed on a case-by-casebasis, depending on whether the individual qualified in the ‘Agamic’ training.
Periyar’s protegee and Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) leader K. Veeramani had been pleading that since the Apex Court did not quash the original Tamil Nadu Government’s G.O. there was no legal bar on the State implementing it, as long as the training of priests was as per the ‘Agamas’.
However, there was very little forward movement on this in the subsequent AIADMK regimes which were in power for ten years till May 2021. Only two ‘Non-Brahmins’ were appointed priests after the Supreme Court verdict and those from other castes continued to remain stranded after completing the training.
With the DMK back in the saddle now, Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin fulfilled yet another of DMK’s poll promises to implemen the G.O. enabling people from all castes to become temple priests. Leaders of various political parties and religious heads hailed the decision as ‘historic’. Mr Stalin has removed the thorn from the heart of Periyar, they said.
