Future of 207 trained priests uncertain

Chennai

Tamil Nadu Thirukovil Paniyalar Sangam state president V Eswaran said the government should not leave the 207 students trained in Agama procedures in the lurch. Wednesday’s SC ruling that archakas should be appointed only based on Agama rules in temples has put their future in jeopardy, he added.

But with more than 34,000 HR & CE temples not covered by Agama sastra, the 207 students could easily be accommodated in them. Only around 2,000 temples of the 36,324 temples under the control of the HR&CE Department followed the Agama rules which were drawn up in Sanskrit aeons ago, Dr M A Venketakrishnan former HoD, Vaishnavism, Madras university said.

The court ruling made it clear that archakas had to be chosen only according to a temple’s Agama practices. This meant that only “a person who was from a specific temple’s archaka lineage could perform poojas in that temple. He could not serve other temples. “Even where lineage is concerned, if one of the parents was not from the same background, the rights would be affected” he added. Meanwhile, DK president K Veeramani has threatened to launch a stir if the trained persons were not given jobs.