Around 200 non-Brahmins, including many from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, in Tamil Nadu await to be appointed as priests years after receiving training by the then state government. According to the 2020 report, the first non-brahmin priest of a temple in Tamil Nadu was appointed in 2018 after many protests and legal battles. Later, after almost two years, another non-brahmin Thiyagarajan from Madurai was appointed priest of a temple in the state. He was the second government-trained non-brahmin temple priest.
In 2006, after the DMK government passed an order, a total of 206 non-Brahmin men, including many from SC/ST communities, were trained by the government for priesthood in the year 2007-08. Of these, two were appointed as priests of a temple and one of them died. Whereas, the other 203 are still waiting to be recruited depending on housewarming ceremonies, marriage functions or consecration in small temples. However, some of the trained non-brahmin priests alleged that those two appointments were made at smaller temples and not at major temples like Srirangam or Pazhani, according to a Times of India report. After the programme was shelved, till now, only two of the government-trained non-brahmin priests have been appointed in temples.
Currently, there are over 36,000 temples under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. After the DMK government took charge, Chief Minister MK Stalin began implementing the plans and orders brought under his father Karunanidhi’s rule. During a recent press meet, Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE) Minister PK Sekar Babu announced that Hindus of all castes would be appointed as priests at temples under the HR & CE Department. He also said that women would also be appointed as priests in temples after a prescribed training.
Meanwhile, Minister Sekar Babu also said the government will take necessary steps to appoint qualified priests to temples before the recently elected DMK government completes 100 days. While social activists have welcomed the government’s move to appoint women as priests, the others feel that the government should not interfere with ‘Agama Sastra’ (norms related to poojas and rituals in temples) and in turn, it has triggered heated debates.
On August 5, HR & CE Minister Sekar Babu inaugurated the ‘Annai Thamizhil Archanai’ scheme at 47 major temples in Tamil Nadu. Under the scheme, formulated at the request of devotees, the priests will chant archanai in Tamil, whereas, chanting archanai in Sanskrit is the usual practice.
It was back in 1971 when former Chief Minister Karunanidhi had brought in the idea and the then HR & CE Minister Kannappan had made an announcement at the state assembly.
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