CHENNAI: Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister PK Sekar Babu on Sunday said pooja in temples will be performed in Tamil from this week. “The scheme will be launched under the banner of ‘Annai Thamizhil Archanai’ (Pooja in mother Tamil) at Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore from Wednesday or Thursday. Within a month, it will be extended to 46 big temples in the State,” Babu said at a function held in a private school here.
Conducting pooja in Tamil in temples has been a long-standing demand of the Dravidian movement. Presently, pooja is offered in Sanskrit as well as in Tamil in a few big temples. Since coming to power, the DMK has been taking steps to perform pooja in Tamil in all major temples.
“After the 47 big temples, the scheme will be extended to smaller ones in a phased manner,” said Babu. These temples will have a board mentioning that pooja will be performed in Tamil, and will also have the mobile numbers of priests.
To a query on cancelling festivals during the Tamil month of Aadi, the minister said the curb was aimed at containing the spread of Covid 19.