Hanging By A Thread

The stranglehold of caste remains strong on the temples of Tamil Nadu. Of the 207 non-­Brahmin government-selected temple archakas (priests) in the state, only two have been appointed. The remaining 203 (two have died) have been waiting for appointment orders for the past 13 years.  The two appointees, Marichamy and Thiagarajan, were deputed to small temples in Madurai—one devoted to Ganesh and another to Aiyappa. They belong to an OBC community and draw a monthly salary of Rs 9,500 for 11 hours of work a day. “Even they managed to get in only because they responded to newspaper advertisements and performed better than the Brahmin candidates in the interview. Their selection proves that training is important, just like in any other job, not their caste,” says Tamil Nadu Government Trained Archakas Association president V. Ranganathan.

With 38,000 temples under its control, the state’s temple administration dep­artment should not have difficulty in filling the existing vacancies. But the stumbling block has been the traditional archakas, most of whom are Brahmins.

Ever since the Karunanidhi government selected and trained these non-­Brahmin archakas in 2007 as part of its social justice agenda, a Supreme Court decision stating that their appointment should conform to temple ‘agama’ (customs) has thrown a spanner in their placement. “After completing the 18-month archaka course, we also took ‘deeksha’ (consecration) from a holy person to wear the sacred thread. This was part of the protocol to become an arc­haka. But the SC’s order indirectly benefits Brahmins, making them de facto archakas in big temples that have their own set of agamas. As these temples ins­ist on going only by the agamas, our training has become meaningless,” rues Ranganathan, a Yadava by birth.

“Whenever vacancies arise, they quietly fill them by hiring the relatives of priests already working in the temple. This cannot be done without the collaboration of the officials of the temple adm­inistration department,” complains Venkatesan, a non-Brahmin priest. Not wanting to remain unemployed, many of them have taken up other jobs.

“Though the Supreme Court upheld the state law appointing priests irrespective of their caste in December 2015, the AIADMK government has not indicated whether it has accepted the verdict and would implement the same. Instead, it has merely used the agama qualification to keep these archakas out from the big temples under its administration,” says Vanchinathan, an advocate who is fighting their legal battle.

The state government has also stopped the training course at the six designated temples. “If more of us passed out and had to wait for appointments, our protests would become bigger. To prevent that, they have suspended admitting ­students,” says Ranganathan. He adds that whenever he and his batchmates raised their voices, they received threatening messages. In 2010, alleged Hindu Munnani supporters attacked him, after which an FIR was filed.

“Let the temples reopen after the ­lockdown. We will update the vacancy list and consider these archakas as well,” says a senior official of the Hindu ­religious and charitable endowments department.

Change, however, could come from elsewhere too. The state’s right wing seeks Hindu consolidation by pushing caste differences aside. “Everyone who has qualified in the archaka course should be appointed as a priest irrespective of caste. There should not be any further delay,” says Arjun Sampath, founder of the Hindu Makkal Katchi.