Official Services In Devaraja Swamy Temple, Kancheepuram Shall Be Performed By Thengalai Members Only: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court held that the official services in Sri Devaraja Swamy Temple at Kancheepuram shall be performed only by the Office Holders namely the Members of Southern Cult, residing at Kancheepuram i.e., ‘Thengalai’ Members.

The Court held thus in a batch of various Appeals and Petitions relating to the sectarian dispute between two religious groups called 'Thengalai' (Southern Cult) and ‘Vadagalai’ (Northern Cult), regarding Ceremonial Worship in famous Temple called Sri Devaraja Swamy Temple at Kancheepuram.

A Division Bench comprising Justice R. Suresh Kumar and Justice S. Sounthar observed, “In our considered view, the right to worship or freedom of religion available to individual Members of Northern Cult are not affected by these decisions. The individual Members of Northern Cult or any other worshippers can very well participate in the Ceremonial Worship of God by repeating what is recited by Office Holders doing Adhiapaka Service. This Court in earlier decisions declared the rights available to the Members of Southern Cult of Kancheepuram to perform certain duties in their capacity as Adhiapaka Service Office Holders. Performance of services like recitation of Manthra, recitation of Prabandham and recitation of Thiruvaimozhi etc., are all within the exclusive domain of Office Holders and ordinary worshippers or any Member of Northern Cult cannot infringe such rights. The Official Services shall be performed only by the recognised Office Holders. As far as Sri Devaraja Swamy Temple at Kancheepuram is concerned, these Official Services during Ceremonial Worship of God shall be performed only by the Office Holders namely the Members of Southern Cult, residing at Kancheepuram.”

The Bench said that no ordinary devotee or non-office holder including the Members of Northern Cult are entitled to claim that they are also entitled to perform the official services in the Temple.

Senior Advocates Vijaya Narayan, Hema Sampath, Srinivasa Raghavan, A.K. Sriram, P.V. Balasubramaniam, K.B.S. Rajan, Advocates M.V. Swaroop, and P. Palaniandavan appeared for the Southern Cult, while Senior Advocates G. Rajagopalan, S. Parthasarathy, S.R. Rajagopal, V. Raghavachari, Sathish Parasaran, Advocates B.K. Kannan, N.V. Balaji, and C. Santhosh Kumar appeared for the Northern Cult. Special Government Pleader (SGP) N.R.R. Arun Natarajan, Government Advocate K. Karthikeyan, Standing Counsel R. Bharanidharan, and Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) R. Muniyapparaj appeared for the State/HR&CE Department.

Factual Background

The sectarian dispute between Southern and Northern Cults has got a long history of over 200 years. The rights of the respective cults were determined and adjudicated upon by the High Court in various decisions. In spite of the same, the differences between them continued. The dispute between Southern Cult and Northern Cult revolves around the duties attached with office (known as Adhiapaka Mirasi) or official performance of certain services to the Deity at the time of Ceremonial Worship in the Temple and at the time of Ceremonial Procession of the Deity inside and outside the Temple. The Members of Southern Cult claimed that they have got right to Office of Adhiapaka Miras in the Temple of Sri Devaraja Swamy and as a necessary consequence, only their Mantram in praise of their Guru “Sri Manavala Mamunigal” namely Sri Sailesa Dayapatram shall be sung before commencement of recitation of Nalayira Divya Prabandham during Ceremonial Worship of Deity in the Temple.

They also claimed that at the time of conclusion of Puja, only their Vazhi Thirunamam referring to Sri Manavala Mamunigal shall be recited. The said claim of Southern Cult was opposed by members of Northern Cult by claiming that they are also entitled to recite their Mantram Ramanuja Deyapatram praising their Guru namely Vedanta Desigan. It was also claimed by the Northern Cult that at the time of conclusion of Puja, their own Vazhi Thirunamam referring to their Guru namely 'Vedanta Desika' shall be recited. This is the crux of the dispute between the Members of the two cults. Both Southern Cult and Northern Cult were followers of Ramanuja; however, they claimed under different spiritual Gurus.

Court’s Observations

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, noted, “… the freedom of conscience or right to worship is a basic human right recognised throughout the world and the scope of the same is enshrined under Articles 25 and 26 of Constitution of India. Article 25 of Constitution of India explains the scope of individual's freedom of religion. Article 26 of Constitution of India explains the scope of freedom of religion collectively available to a religious denomination or a part of it.”

The Court emphasised that while examining the scope of right available to the individuals under Article 25 of Constitution of India, the Court shall be conscious of its limitation and the fundamental rights of other individuals and the delicate balance between the two shall be maintained.

“As discussed earlier, friction between the Members of Southern Cult and Northern Cult in offering prayers to Sri Devaraja Swamy Temple at Kancheepuram is more than 200 years old dispute. The right of the respective parties have been defined by authoritative pronouncement of Division Bench of this Court in more than one occasion”, it added.

The Court observed that the Members of Southern Cult, who are residents of Kancheepuram have got exclusive right to Office of Adhiapaka Mirasi and as Office Holders, they are entitled to recite their Manthram namely Sri Sailesa Dayapatram and invoke their Guru.

“Followed by the invocation, they are entitled to recite Nalayira Divya Prabandham in their own way. Finally, at the time of conclusion they are entitled to recite their Vazhi Thirunamam praising their own Guru Manavala Mamunigal. This Adhiapaka Mirasi right shall be exercised by the Members of the Southern Cult during Ceremonial Worship (Puja Service) of Deity in the Temple. During Ceremonial Worship, when Members of Southern Cult perform their duties in their capacity as Office Holders of Adhiapaka Mirasi, the Members of Northern Cult are not entitled to recite their Manthra in praise of their Guru or recite their Prabandham in their own way. However, the Members of Northern Cult, in their capacity as ordinary worshippers of God are entitled to join by repeating the Manthras or Prabandhams recited by Members of Southern Cult, who are Office Holders”, it explained.

The Court clarified that the right to worship available to the Members of Northern Cult is preserved and the restriction imposed on Members of Northern Cult with regard to the recitation of Manthra and Prabandham is restricted to the time, during which the Ceremonial Worship of Deity is going on in the Temple.

“An ordinary Devotee cannot emulate the role of Official Priest, Puja Assistants or Othurvar during performance of Official Puja by the Office Holders. The ordinary devotees are entitled to worship the God without interfering the performance of official duties by the Office Holders. When rendition of holy verses by Othuvars are going on, an ordinary worshipper in the guise of exercising his freedom of religion or right to worship cannot loudly recite his own poem as per his wish so as to interfere with the performance of official duties by the Office Holder. If such acts by individual worshippers are allowed during Ceremonial Worship time, the conducive atmosphere in the Temple during Ceremonial Worship will get vitiated and people will not be in a position to have peaceful worship of God”, it further noted.

The Court held that an ordinary worshipper of a Temple is entitled to recite his own holy songs, poems etc., loudly, so as to vitiate the atmosphere or perform certain services to God exclusively reserved for office holders.

“The right to freedom of religion enshrined under Articles 25 and 26 of Constitution of India cannot be expanded to affect the rights of Office Holders and to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the Temple. If such things are permitted, certainly it will affect the right to worship available to the other devotees”, it also said.

The Court enunciated that the right available under Article 26 of Constitution of India is not only available to a religious denomination but the same is also available to any section thereof and, therefore, the right available to denomination or any section thereof recognised under Article 26 is also available to the Members of the Southern Cult; hence, under Article 26(c) of Constitution, the Members of Southern Cult in their capacity as a section of denomination are entitled to own and acquire movable and immovable properties.

“It is settled law that right to office having beneficial interest is akin to right to property. The Mirasi Right of Members of Southern Cult is a perfect blend of religious right as well as property right. Therefore, the Members of Southern Cult, as recognised by earlier decisions of this Court are entitled to Office of Adhiapaka Service and the said office right is protected under Article 26 (c) and (d) of Constitution of India”, it reiterated.

The Court was of the view that the injunction granted by the Civil Court against the Members of Northern Cult from interfering with the right to office available to the Members of Southern Cult will no way offend the freedom of religion available to the Members of Northern Cult under Article 25 of Constitution.

Conclusion and Directions

Moreover, the Court noted that the right to rituals and ceremonies available to the Members of Southern Cult is blended with right to office of Mirasi and the said right is superior than the right to worship available to the non-members of Southern Cult including Northern Cult; hence, non-members of Southern Cult in the guise of exercise of their right to worship cannot interfere with official functions of Southern Cult during performance of Ceremonial Worship, which is protected under Article 26 (b) of Constitution.

“… we hold that the right to office or Mirasi right declared in the earlier judgments is restricted to Southern Cult residents of Kancheepuram alone. … the submission made by the learned counsel appearing for the Northern Cult, based on abolition of Hereditary Right, will not be applicable to cases where the right to office is conferred on body of persons and not to individuals”, it held.

The Court directed the Respondent/Executive Trustee of the Temple to implement the Decree passed by the Court in earlier litigations in its letter and spirit by permitting performance of Ceremonial Worship and Ceremonial Procession of Deity.

“In case of difficulty in maintaining the public order and implementation of the decree, the Executive Trustee is at liberty to take necessary police help. With this direction, the contempt petition stands closed”, it concluded.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the lead Appeal and issued necessary directions.

Cause Title- P.B. Rajahamsam v. S. Narayana & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:MHC:2741)

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