CHENNAI: Three women graduates, who are in their mid-20s and successfully completed their archaka course in the training centre run by the Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Srirangam are ready to take up the job of archakas. They will be undergoing one-year training in different temples soon. Interestingly, the Archaka Training Centre in Srirangam has drawn 11 more women students this year, and other centres in the state may draw more women students in due course.
N Ranjitha (25) of Vellamathagu Koradacheri in Tiruvarur district, S Ramya (23), and C Krishnaveni (23) of Mel Adhanur village in Cuddalore district received the course completion certificate from HR &CE Minister PK Sekarbabu on Wednesday.
While Ranjitha is a B.Sc (visual communication) graduate, Ramya is a M.Sc (maths) graduate. Krishnaveni holds a graduate degree in mathematics. Though there are women priests in certain village temples and other places already, women who have completed a proper course on priesthood entering the sanctum sanctorum of HR and CE temples is a significant development.
N Ranjitha (25) told TNIE that during the one-year course, they were taught Pancharatra Agama, Naalaayira Divya Prabhandam, Nitya Anusandanam, how to perform ‘homams’ and other information on worship in temples. “The training we will be undergoing in the coming months will make us completely able to perform rituals on our own,” she exuded confidence.
Ranjitha said she is expected to get her training in Mannargudi Rajagopalaswamy Temple after September 20 while Krishnaveni requested the department that she be given training in Perambalur Manada Gopalaswamy Temple. Ramya wishes to get trained in a nearby temple. They were told that after one year of training if there were vacancies in those temples, they would be appointed as assistant priests. Otherwise, they would get appointments in other temples.
They are not worried about the income and just want to earn ‘punyam’ by serving the Lord. Hailing the three women who will be entering the sanctum sanctorum of temples, Chief Minister MK Stalin, in a message on X (formerly Twitter), said, “As our Dravidian Model government has removed the thorn from Thanthai Periyar’s heart by appointing people of all castes as priests, women are also stepping into sanctums, bringing a new era of inclusivity and equality.”
Stalin also said that despite women’s achievements as pilots and astronauts, they were barred from the sacred role of temple priests, deemed impure, even in temples for female deities. “But change is finally here!” he added. DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi congratulated the three women.
“The voice of these three women from where they were denied entry, will turn a new chapter in the social justice history of the state. I thank the chief minister and HR&CE Minister who made this possible.”
38 archakas & 8 women Othuvars appointed
DHARMAPURI: The DMK government has appointed 38 people as archakas from all castes and eight women as ‘Othuvars’, HRCE Minister PK Sekarbabu said on Thursday. Addressing reporters after conducting inspections in temples in Salem and Dharmapuri, he said, “
Recently 94 priests completed their training from 20 priest training schools. Among them are three women archakas and four othurvars. In Tamil Nadu, people can become temple priests irrespective of their caste. So far, 38 non-Brahmins have been appointed in temples as priests.”
“Since the DMK came to power, over 1,044 temples have been consecrated. 90% of the renovation works of the 850-year-old Salem Kottai Mariamman Thirukovil, which began in 2016 at the cost of `4.35 crore, is completed,” he added.
The minister further stated that the state government has so far surveyed over 1.50 lakh acres of HR&CE land belonging to various temples and marked their boundaries with stones. In the last two years, properties worth Rs 5,213 crore belonging to HR&CE have been recovered, he added.