| Published on 17-03-2008 In National |
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Written by
Cho Ramaswamy |
The storm centred within the precincts of Chidambaram Nataraja temple seems to have abated for the time being.
But, it is quite another matter that this has exposed a serious attempt to shake the foundations of one faith.
The issue revolving around a few having been prevented from chanting Tamil hymns while stationed at the divine Golden Assembly violating rules prescribed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (administered by the Government of Tamil Nadu) is still a sore point.
The world at large has been told that there was a 'tripartite' stoning fracas between the traditional Dikshitars who control the shrine, a few outsiders and the police when efforts were made to offer worship in Tamil in the arena in question. Arrests followed.
After being threatened with dire consequences, the orthodox priests allowed the chosen few led by one Arumugasamy who insisted that they had the right to utter the prayers in the local language inside the sacred hall, period.
However, the more important questions – [a] whether the government's HR & CE wing possessed the entitlement to enforce such a measure and [b] if so to what extent – remain unanswered.
Under the debris created after the aftermath of the 'privileged protest' a few truths have been buried.
Nobody had objected to the singing of Tamil hymns (Thevaram) from the hallowed platform. Actually the Dikshitars do so every day as part of the prayer routine. There were no precedents in the temple's history to allow anybody else – including Brahmins – to loudly pray in any language while being positioned in the Golden Assembly other than the temple's hereditary administrators – viz. the Dikshitars.
But, virtually anyone can have an unhindered Darshan from the spot.
In other words, to say that Tamil worship by others outside the clan of the Dikshitars inside the temple is banned – is a patent falsehood.
This apart, the HR & CE Department has no locus standi to control the affairs in the Chidambaram shrine. The government's order appointing an Executive Officer to run the affairs of the temple was struck down by the courts, which said clearly that the Dikshitars belong to a religious denomination.
Subsequently the order was withdrawn.
Another aspect to be borne in mind is that the state's statute only allows the HR & CE Department's supervision of the administration but does not accord it any privilege to interfere in religious activities.
Therefore, the government cannot enforce any measure in this temple.
So, now there is a different query being raised.
Can Tamils not offer worship in their mother tongue in their own state?
What about the Thevaram hymns sung by the Dikshitars? Were they uttered in Esperanto – the only man made globally foreign language known to the smallest minority in the world?
That those underlining the supremacy of Tamil in the temple improperly pronounced the prayers and had to be prompted by the very Dikshitars they opposed is, of course, an ironical aside.
Is such a slurred slur the pristine language called Tamil?
That said, why can't these who so valiantly underline the need of Tamil in anything and everything insist on it being the medium of prayers in mosques – replacing Arabic?
Lest it be misunderstood that this is an argument in favour of governments' interference in personal praying preferences, let me make my stand clear.
When radical regimes respect regimens alien to our culture, why interweave indigenous idiomatic invocations with irreverent, irrelevant snobbery in the name of secularism?
Non-believers asserting a right to propitiate progressiveness in a sacred spot is not only sacrilege but also unjust.
And that is precisely what had happened in Chidambaram.
Certain godless souls arrayed a few belonging to a faith that derides Hinduism at the Nataraja temple. The Tamil Nadu government has derived vicarious pleasure in ensuring that such a travesty of justice took place.
Impotent inability on the part of the reign to dislodge the faith by introducing Executive Officers has resulted in its attempted execution in the name of the local lingua franca.
Rudiments of religion have been used as a ruse by ruling arrogant atheists under the garb of propagating Tamil.
(Translated from Thuglak by TSV Hari)
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