'Choice Vests With Devotees': Madras High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking A Ban On Chanting Of Mantras In Tamil In Temples

The Madras High Court on Friday rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to be issued to the Tamil Nadu government to withdraw the 'Annai Tamil Archanai' scheme that allows devotees to opt for the chanting of hymns by priests in Tamil instead of in Sanskrit while performing pujas inside the temples.

The petitioner contended that most of the temples have been set up according to the agama principles and it has been the age-old tradition for mantras to be chanted in the Sanskrit language. Thus, the very sanctity of the mantras is destroyed if not chanted in Sanskrit, it was argued.

A Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu opined that the issue in consideration had already been settled in a 2008 High Court ruling by the Division Bench comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and K. Chandru (both retired) in the case of VS Sivakumar v. M Pitchai Battar.

"The court held that there was nothing in the agamas or in other religious scripts to prohibit the chanting of mantras in Tamil in temples. The court also held that the choice was vested with the devotees to seek for their archanas to be performed at their wishes by chanting mantras either in Tamil or in Sanskrit", the Bench recalled while citing the 2008 judgment.

The Bench further added,

"The larger issue as to whether mantras may be chanted in Tamil at the behest of the devotee apart from the practice in the temples of chanting such mantras in Sanskrit has been dealt with in the later judgment of V.S.Sivakumar. Nothing that the petitioner cites would permit this court to take a view at variance with the one expressed in V.S.Sivakumar. In the event the petitioner requires a re-assessment, it has to be at an altogether different level."

The Court further observed the issue was no more res integra and that there had been no change in circumstances that would compel the Court to revisit its earlier ruling.

"Judicial discipline commands that when an issue has been decided, unless the circumstances have changed or the decision on the issue is rendered suspect on account of the judgment not taking the applicable law into account or any pronouncement of a superior forum has intervened, the matter may not be revisited. There is no change in the circumstances and no case is made out for reconsidering a matter that has been concluded in the year 2008 and instructs the manner in which mantras may be chanted in temples in the State", the Court noted.

The petitioner had also relied upon another judgment by a different Division Bench which had rejected a writ petition filed in 2008 for reciting mantras in Tamil. The Court pointed out that the 2008 writ petition had been dismissed since the litigant then had insisted that mantras should be chanted only in Tamil and in no other language. Therefore, the Court ruled that it could not permit the use of a particular language to the exclusion of others in religious institutions.

Accordingly, the petition was disposed of without imposition of costs.

Case Title: Rangarajan Narasimhan v. The Principal Secretary and Anr

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