Temple riches have lured invaders for the last thousand years, its vast treasures spirited away with impunity. Donating wealth and bequeathing properties to Gods have been long a tradition in India. The control of temples, with substantial land banks and riches, is a tradition following the British rules framed in 1817, dislodging the temple priests as the custodians of the assets.
I had las week posted on what temples meant for the people, as a religious centre, a cultural nucleus, a granary in times of drought and even a court. The lands were let out to farmers, sharing the grains, which in turn helped to feed the poor and the needy. Temples ran schools, Ved patashalas, gaushalas, old age homes, and medical facilities to those in need.
The British realized that the influence of the temples over common man had to be ended if the British colonization had to flourish. They thus introduced the Madras Regulation VII of 1817. Many laws were pressed to keep the British stranglehold of the temples until the “Madras Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, covering all religions was enacted. The Act drew loud protests from the Christians and the Muslims who would not submit their assets to the British. Thus, it was made applicable only to Hindus and renamed Hindu Religious and Endowments Act 1927.
The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, enacted in the same period, however, brought Gurdwaras under the control of only Sikhs, the British thus showing their duplicity between Hindu and all other religions. By a legislative Act XII, 1935, the Government empowered itself to notify any temple and take over its administration.
The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act was passed in 1959. The Congress was in power in the country then. It dissolved the boards and formed a Hindu religious and charitable endowments department, headed by a commissioner to stop any mismanagement, which though was perceived only for Hindu entities. Those who were atheists or were from other religions found their way into Hindu temples, in a ploy to destroy the temple culture as well as the loot of funds. Political powers usurped hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile lands in the last five decades. Priceless ‘Panchaloka’ idols have been smuggled out in connivance with the administration.
The latest attempt to sell some assets of Tirupati-Tirumala Balaji temple by the Andhra Pradesh Government caused a public outcry, and the Government forced to backtrack, putting their act ‘in abeyance.’
The Supreme Court has questioned the Government’s dichotomy and taking over the Hindu temples, but any order to the contrary can only be with appropriate public pressure. BJP’s Dr Satyapal Singh has moved a bill for the removal of government controls of all the temples, which is pending. A move by Dr Subramaniam Swamy to unshackle Sabarimala temple from the control of Kerala Government is also pending in the Apex court.
Ever since non-believers and Government goons took over the temples, even lamps are not lit in many temples, and priests forced to live in abject poverty, robbed of even their meagre ‘plate’ offerings by the devotees.
The A.P Government’s action is an eye-opener, and the Government must take its hands away from the temples and all its assets.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
