MADURAI: Twelve years after Tamil Nadu government, under then Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi, issued an order stating that members of all castes, with suitable training, could be appointed archakas at temples maintained by Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE), a priest belonging a Most Backward Caste community has been appointed archaka in an Ayyappan temple at Tallakulam, Madurai.
The priest, who wished not to be named, was one among 206 non-Brahmins who made up the first batch to undergo archaka training provided by the state government in 2007-08. After the training, he was performing poojas at small temples. Meanwhile the Alagar Temple administration, managed by HR & CE, called for an interview for the post of archaka in the Ayyappan temple. The priest said he attended the interview along with five others, four of whom were Brahmins.
He was interviewed by an official from HR& CE department and the temple’s head priest and was questioned on rituals and mantras, both in Tamil and Sanskrit. “Six months ago, I was sent a communication that I was selected as the priest to perform poojas in the Ayyappan temple,” he said, adding that although the temple was small, it attracted devotees from in and around Madurai. He draws a monthly salary of `9,500 from the department.
V Ranganathan, state coordinator, Tamil Nadu Government-Trained Archakas Association said that although the appointment was to be welcomed, the main purpose of enacting the law was to appoint non-brahmins as priests in temples where agama sastras were followed. Those sastras are followed only in big temples such as Madurai Meenakshi Amman and Palani Murugan temples.