Don't dictate how others should pray on New Year Day

While we must be glad a contentious year has rolled by, there is no guarantee that the incoming one won't be as controversial or worse. There was so much of meddlesome politicking for us not to be glad to see the back of 2017 and there is always the hope that people would have learnt their lessons from the year gone by and act more wisely. While the Tamils were able to assert their right to hold the Jallikattu - however painful that may be for the poor bulls - there were other killjoys trying to tell the people of Tamil Nadu they can't pray at midnight as soon as the New Year rolls in.

It is as well that the Madras high court saw no reason to inflict any kind of ban on temples keeping their doors open so people may keep their vows of seeing their gods early. What is the problem if most people in the world have decided to go by the chronological convenience of the Gregorian calendar which has been universally adapted? There were some foolish arguments in court saying Hindus must follow only their own calendar, which they generally use to fix their festivals.

It is one of the fundamental signs of modernity that the world follows one calendar to keep the world connected and make it simpler to do business and trade.

No one tells Hindus not to celebrate Ugadi or Tamil New Year unless you were in Tamil Nadu and were confused by the Dravidian politics that extends to the official celebration of New Year too, with Kalaignar's DMK insisting that it be celebrated at Pongal rather than in the month of Chithirai. The upshot of it all was that the Tamils had another New Year to celebrate and who does not love it if a holiday goes with the chronology. Let us have more New Years in a year is what the revelers would day.

Now, the voices raised against Christians celebrating their revered day of the birth of Christ were getting louder in 2017, on the pretext of suspected religious proselytisation. What rubbish! Such opposition is apparently spreading too, including against celebrating New Year's eve - who doesn't like a drop or two - and then on to how we pray on New Year day. What will they be opposing next - going to temples except at designated times set by ancient calendars. And what tripe was presented as arguments as we all know how popular and busy temples operate 20 hours a day if the people keep coming in droves.

It is fine to say that the ancient temples have been following the Agama Sastras and closing at certain hours and to make an exception for December 31 midnight seems a stretch. But it is quite another to say that no temple should open its doors because people follow the Gregorian calendar and celebrate January 1 with the rest of the world. Hinduism has been known for its adaptability through the ages and that cannot be changed merely because some reactionaries of the age, emboldened by their victories in elections, are trying to dictate what is said in the Agamas. How much do they know of it that they dare to spread their ultraconservatism?

The ancient temples of Chennai do not always bend to the popular will and keep their doors open at midnight on NYE. However, even the revered Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane where the Lord sports a moustache because he is an avatar of Krishna, Arjuna's charioteer, opens its doors very early in the month of Margazhi. If devotees wish to come in and celebrate the New Year by queueing early they are not defying any traditions nor is the temple guilty of flouting the Agamas.

The smaller temples and myriad roadside ones know their priorities are to go by the wishes of the devotees who flock to the temple and not what may have been said in the ancient Sastras. Call it commerce if you wish, but it is a way of adapting to the existing environment. To stay relevant, religions have also shown they can adapt. Should they go on the backfoot merely because someone claims to be an authority in such matters and wants to impose his will now. It would be understandable if religious heads have a say in this, but not stray political elements. They have done enough damage in other states with their outpourings of reactionary opinion. Let not Tamil Nadu open its doors and be told how the people should go about praying to their gods and goddesses.