MADURAI : The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently ordered that only persons who have undertaken austerities and vows, and whose names have been registered with the temple management should be allowed to spray water on the idol of Lord Kallazhagar during the Chithirai festival, only when the deity enters the Vaigai River. Also, water should be sprayed using the traditional method of using leather bags, without fitting any high-pressure pumps on them, the court added and directed the Madurai collector and police to ensure strict compliance with the same.
Justice GR Swaminathan passed the order on a petition filed by one A Nagarajan against the use of high-pressure pumps while spraying water on the deity, Lord Kallazhagar, during the Chithirai festival in Madurai.
The judge referred to the doctoral thesis of Tamil anthropologist Tho. Paramasivan, which discusses various cultural aspects, including the water spraying ritual. He noted that during the water spraying process, leather bags (bellows) fitted with hand pumps were used to spray water on the deity when the latter enters the Vaigai River. However, these days, high-pressure pumps are implanted into the leather bags and youngsters use them to spray water with force indiscriminately throughout the procession, the judge noted. This affects the priest standing on the palanquin with the idol, the palanquin bearers and also the women devotees who gather for the festival, while also damaging the ornaments and precious stones adorning the idol, he added.
"Such undesirable activities can be prevented if the use of the bellows with pressure pumps implanted in them is disallowed," he observed. Holding that the district administration and the jurisdictional police are responsible for ensuring the smooth conduct of the festival, the judge directed the district collector to issue necessary instructions in this regard with further directions to the commissioner and superintendent of police to ensure strict compliance with the same not only during this year's festival but for the upcoming years as well.