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Tamil Nadu’s first government-trained non-Brahmin priest
August 6 , 2018
2303 days
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- For the first time in Tamil Nadu, a temple in Madurai has broken caste barriers and appointed a non-Brahmin priest.
- It was in 1970 that Karunanidhi had first passed an order to clear the way for members of all castes to become priests.
- But the order was stuck down by the Supreme Court.
- But in 2006, Karunanidhi once again passed the order, and this time (December 2015) the Supreme Court upheld the decision.
- Following the 2006 order, 206 men, including 24 belonging to SC/ST communities, underwent training in many temples owned by Tamil Nadu’S Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department and completed Junior Priest certification.
- On March 1 this year, a person named T.Marichamy, who was one among the 206 to undergo training, was appointed as a priest in Madurai’s Thallakulam Aiyappan temple.
- He is also the first person who does not belong to a lineage of traditional priests to be appointed in a temple to perform puja after undergoing formal training as an archaka.
- The appointment was being made as per Agamas Shastra (the manual for worship, temple building and rituals) of the individual temple.
- In its judgment in December 2015, the apex court, while refusing to strike down the order, said that the appointments must be in accordance with the agama that govern the worship at respective temples.
- It was this judgment that enabled the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government in Kerala to appoint a Dalit as a priest in 2017.
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