No recital of Tamil Desika Prabandam in temple: Madras HC

Chennai: The Madras high court has made it clear that there shall be no recital/chanting of Tamil Prabandam of Acharya Vedanta Desika at Sri Devarajaswamy temple in Kancheepuram until further orders.

“Temple is a place of worship where anybody can pray. Unfortunately, as there is difference between Vadakalai and Tenkalai of Iyengar community, the issue is yet to attain finality. As long as this globe exists in the orbit, their differences would not be resolved. Instead terming themselves as ‘human being’, they should first know how to be “being human””, said justice S. Vaidyanathan while passing orders at a special sitting in his residence on October 18 on a petition filed by K.B. Srinivasan.

The judge said the relief sought for in this petition was to prohibit chanting/reciting of Tamil Prabandam of Sri Vedantha Desika in the evening on October 18 at Devarajaswamy Devasthanam in Kancheepuram. In the main petition (filed by A.K. Suresh alias Satagopan), the prayer was restricted only for the rendition of Prabandam of Acharya Vedanta Desika at Sri Devarajaswamy temple on September 21, 2018. Justice R. Mahadevan has ordered verbally to continue the recital of Tamil Prabandam in the aforesaid temple and that the matter would be taken up for hearing on October 22.

It was represented by the present petitioner (Srinivasan) that when the relief sought for was restricted only to September 21, without taking any further orders from the court, the petitioner Suresh has proceeded to chant/recite in the morning on October 18 and therefore, they should be restrained from chanting in the evening on October 18. “Taking note of the above fact, until further orders or modification of this order during the hearing of the petition by Justice R. Mahadevan, there shall be no recital/chanting of Tamil Prabandam of Acharya Vedanta Desika at Sri Devarajswamy temple, Kancheepuram,” the judge added.

In his petition, Srinivasan submitted that all the disputes raised by the Vadakalai sect have been resolved by the judgment of this court, the Supreme Court and the privy council itself. The petitioner (Suresh) was attempting to rake in an already decided issue. Suresh has suppressed the judgments passed by various courts in which the rights of the two sects have been decided after a thread bare analysis of long custom and usage in the temples. In the judgment dated August 10, 1962, the sub-court, Chengalpet has given a categorical finding “that the recitation of Tamil verses of Sri Vedantha Desikar on Sathumurai day during the Mangalasasanam in the sanctum sanctorum of Sri Devarajaswamy and other shrines is not established usage”. This judgment was confirmed by a division bench of this court in 1970, he added.

He said the unassailable fact was that there were only two Mirasis-right holders, the Tenkalais for reciting Divya Prabandham and the Thathachariyas (the non Thathacharivadakalais were not included) for reciting Sanskrit Vedas and Stothrams. Other Vadakalais have at best can join the gosties only as ordinary worshippers. While so, violating the consuetudes and court directions, some recitation was conducted on September 21 on the basis of the alleged oral permission granted by this court.  Suresh and others again conducted recitation in the morning on October 18, he added.