HC dismisses pleas against chanting of 'mantras' in Tamil

HC dismisses pleas against chanting of 'mantras' in Tamil Chennai, Mar 20 (PTI) Dismissing two writ petitions seeking a directive against chanting of Tamil 'mantras' in the temples in the state, the Madras High Court today said if the plea was accepted, "it will only result in Hinduism becoming a museum of beliefs." The Bench, comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and K Chandru said, "there is nothing in the Agamas (texts laying down rules of pooja) or in any other religious script to prohibit the chanting of Tamil Mantras in temples run under the administration of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department." It also said "the attempt to portray as if God can understand only Devanagari, and Tamil cannot stand on par with it, is only stated to be rejected and it does not have any foundation based upon any scripture or religious texts." The Bench observed that the present attempt by the state was not to replace the existing method with a new one. "On the contrary, the choice is with the devotees to seek for their 'Archanas' to be performed by chanting the 'mantras' in Tamil or Sanskrit," the Bench said. V S Sivakumar and Pitchai Battar, in their petitions, sought a direction from the court to restrain the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments from performing poojas and archanas in Tamil, besides restraining it from interfering in ceremonies and customary modes of worship. The State had no right to interfere with any aspect regarding rituals and modes of worship in temples, they said claiming that the Government had ordered the Archakas and Gurukals (the priests) of temples under the HR&CE to perform archanas in Tamil. Persons in-charge of administration in temples were also being compelled to do Kumbhabishekam (consecration) in Tamil, they submitted. PTI

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