No issues in performing 'archanai' using Tamil: Madras High Court

Referring to the judgement which held that the choice of the recitation of mantras in Tamil or Sanskrit is vested with the devotee, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu said “There is nothing that the petitioner cites would permit the court to take a contrary view on an issue that has already been decided.”

“When an issue has been decided, unless the circumstances have changed, the matter may not be revisited. There is no change in the circumstances and no case has been made out for reconsidering the matter,” the court held.

The manner in which mantras may be chanted is the only issue the petitioner raises is covered in its finding and there is no merit for admissions at the receiving stage itself, the bench pointed out while dismissing the petition.

The petitioner Rangarajan Narasimhan had submitted that the State Government is purporting to in the religious affairs and is altering religious practices adopted in Hindu temples and institutions. He had contended that most of the temples have been set up based on agama principles.

Also, it has been an age-old practice of chanting mantras in Sanskrit and hence the very purpose chanting mantras will be destroyed if it’s not in Sanskrit, the petitioner held while relying on a 1988 judgement that held that language in which mantras would be chanted may be only in Sanskrit.