MADURAI: An official team, which went to inspect a temple ritual in the wake of a news story published by an online portal that seven girls 'revered' as Amman were confined for days in Yezhaikaatha Amman temple at Vellalur village near Madurai, advised the girls to cover their shoulders with a shawl.
The report alleged that the girls were made to stay in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple for 14 days under the care of a male priest, while their parents stayed in the temple hall.
Though the report did not make any allegation of exploitation or sexual abuse, it created a sensation leading to the editors of the web portal being trolled.
Following this, the district collector Veera Raghava Rao sent an official team to investigate the rituals. "We found no abuse of the children who were sent by their parents voluntarily," said the collector adding that they were treated like goddesses.
The temple ritual which has been followed for centuries began with people from 70 villages gathering to select the girls for the annual festival, which began on September 12 this year. A Boomiselvam, Tamil Professor of American College, who has been participating in the ritual since his childhood, said that," The girls selected for the rituals were normally under the age group of six to eight. Only children who have not entered puberty are chosen for the ritual. Besides the temple priest who is normally an aged man, sleeps outside the sanctum sanctorum, while the girls sleep inside the sanctum sanctorum," said the professor.
Boomiselvam who is also researching on this ritual said that it is common practice in Hindu tradition for those who are engaged in this ritual inside the sanctum sanctorum not to wear upper garment. The practice of children not wearing upper clothes in the ritual is just following that tradition, he said.
