Madras High Court refuses to stay chanting of hymns in Tamil

The Madras High Court on Friday refused to issue a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to withdraw a scheme that allows chanting of hymns by priests in the Tamil language instead of Sanskrit in temples across the state.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu rejected a PIL filed against Annai Tamil Archanai, the scheme launched by the new DMK government. The scheme allows devotees to opt for hymns being chanted in Tamil instead of Sanskrit as was being practised.

Several organisations and priests had taken objection to the scheme and the petitioner went to the court terming the decision to chant hymns in Tamils as “blasphemy” and as an “act to introduce confusion and create unrest in otherwise peaceful religious practices.”

The bench, while dismissing the plea by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam, said it cannot entertain the case as the issue was not res integra (an unsettled question of law) anymore. The judges noted that a division bench of the Madras High Court had in 2008 held that there is no ban on chanting hymns in Tamil in Agama Sastra.

“It defeats any logic for the State to think that only Hindus are more devotional to utilise Tamil language and not the Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and so on. One can very much understand that any such attempt by the State in any other religion will result not just in confusion but total unrest to the law and order situation,” Narasimhan had said in his petition.

The scheme was introduced by the DMK government in about 45 temples in the first phase. Several decisions of the new government, including handing over orders of appointment as priests to those from non-Brahmin communities, have come under attack from various quarters.

The state government has also decided to revive six Archakar Payirchi Palli (Priest Training Schools) to train those interested to work as priests in temples.