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TMI Blog1970 (7) TMI 77X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for them. The said muthukaruppa Pillai made the four idols and completed the work as desired by chockalinga Pillai. Thereafter, Chockalingam Pillai, in pursuance of the promise made by him to Muthukaruppa Pillai that he would make arrangements for the performance of daily pooja, neivedhyam, Shodasa upacharams etc, endowed and dedicated certain properties in favour of the said four idols by a deed of settlement dated 24-10-1924 (Ex. A. 1 ). for the purpose of doing daily pooja and also gurupooja every year in respect of the said idols and for similar purposes mentioned in the said deed. By the said deed, he appointed the aforesaid (1)Muthukaruppa Pillai, (2) Pichai alias Chockalingam Pillai (appellant) who is the grandson of his elder brother and (3) one Gopala Iyer, the son of the Manager of kalyanasundareswarar devastanam as trustees for the management of the properties and administration of due performances of the various items of pooja and other things mentioned in the said deed. ( 3. ) Chockalingam Pillai died in 1926. Muthukaruppa Pillai who took over the management of the properties died in 1934. Gopala Iyer, another trustee appointed under the settlement deed died in 193 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the temple, installation of the images and performance of the consecration ceremonies and as such the Executive Officer of the temple was incompetent to call for accounts or demand performance of pooja for images which were not installed and deified. ( 5. ) The Deputy Commissioner for Religious Endowments of Tanjore, issued a notice to the appellant under date 4-9-1958 informing him that the trust had not been carried out property, that the had not accounted for the income from the properties and that, therefore, he proposed to frame a scheme. The appellant by his reply dated 29-10-1958 inter alia represented that no temple had been built for the images and the images had not been installed therein, that he was prepared to perform Kumbabhishekam if the images were installed in the temples to be erected and that he was having the amounts of the trust with him and had invested the same in fixed and current accounts with banks. ( 6. ) The Deputy Commissioner after due enquiry found that the trust was an endowment connected with the temple of Sri Kalyanasundareswarar and framed a scheme by order dated 20-2-1960 in O. P. No. 57 of 1959. Under the Scheme, the deputy Commissione ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... substantially indicate that they become objects of public religious worship, to which the properties can be endowed. ( 9. ) But we have to consider whether the ceremonies to be performed according to hindu Sastras in installation and consecration of idols are essential requisites for a temple as defined under Clause (20) of Section 6 of the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act 1959 (hereinafter called the act ). ( 10. ) The following are the relevant provisions to be considered: Under Section 6 clause (18) religious institution means a math, temple or specific endowment. religious endowment or endowment is defined in Section 6 clause (17) as follows:-- religious endowment' or 'endowment' means all property belonging to or given or endowed for the purpose of maths or temples, or given or endowed for the performance of any service or charity of a public nature connected therewith or of any other religious charity; and includes the institution concerned and also the premises thereof; but does not include gifts of property made as personal gifts to the archaka, service-holder or other employee of a religious institution;. . . . . . . . . ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... here no idol or no picture of any deity is kept. But a light is kept burning perpetually, indicating God as jyothi or light . daily pooja is performed and the Hindu community congregate in large numbers and offer their prayers and worship in the said Sabhai. Thus. it has become a place of public religious worship. Pictures and paintings of gods in some famous public temples are worshipped by the devotees who go to such temples for the worship of he presiding deity. We mention these things to show that it is not necessary in all cases that the presence of idols is an essential requisite to bring the place within the definition of 'temple' under the Act. ( 13. ) We have already observed that when idols of Hindu Gods are installed according to Hindu Sastras, prana pratishta is an essential ceremony. The question is, if the idols are installed in a place without due ceremonies being performed, will that cease to be a place of public religious worship within the meaning of temple under the Act? It is clear from the definition of 'temple' that if a place is used as place of public religious worship by the Hindu community or any section thereof, and dedicated as su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ; as a place of public religious worship under the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1927, the present definition being substantially the same, made the following observation, with which we respectfully agree:- 'the Hindu Religious Endowments Act, no doubt speaks of a temple as a place of 'public religious worship'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The test is not whether it conforms to any particular school of Agama Sastras; We think that the question must be decided with reference to the view of the class of people who take part in the worship. If they believe in its religious efficacy, in the sense that by such worship they are making themselves the object of the bounty of some superhuman power, it must be regarded as 'religious worships'. In that case, the facts disclosed that 66 stones representing the images of heroes who gave their lives as martyrs were placed and worshipped by the Hindu community and the institution came to be knows as 'sri Virulu Alaya' a temple of heroes. There were no idols. But there was performance of Nity Neivedya diparadhana, the offering of animal sacrifices and distribution of these offerings amon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e saints of Saivism in South India. They propagated Saivite religion by having sung devotional songs in praise of Lord Siva, the images of which were installed in various places in Saivite temples in South India under various names. Those devotional songs were known as Thevaram and Thiruvachakam. They were believed to have lived during Chola and Pandia period in South India. The Saints like Alwars of Vaishnavite religion and nayanmars of Saivite religion propagated bhakti and that that was the only means to get liberation. They themselves sought for their liberation. These saints lived as human beings and sang in praise of the various presiding deities infused spiritually in the idols, installed and consecrated according to Hindu Agama Sastras. Though they were religious Saints of the highest order they cannot be equated with the deity infused in idols worshipped by the very same Saints. The Hindu authorities have prescribed various ceremonies to be performed to give efficacy to the idols of Hindu Puranic Gods. The Agama sastras, as far as we could see, do not prescribe such ceremonies to be performed to the idols representing the Saints or other persons who lived dedicating their ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nown fact that people who go to temples for religious worship of presiding deities also worship the other images kept in the said temples and the images of Nalvars are of the latter category. ( 18. ) It may be, as pointed out by learned counsel Mr. M. S. Venkatarama Iyer, that in some places even the idols of Nayanmars like those nalvars might have been installed and consecrated with certain ceremonies. For instance, the image of appar, one of the nalvars. was installed and consecrated recently at Thiruvamur, the birth place of the said saint, by and at the instance of Dharmapuram adheenam, a well known Saivite Mutt in south India, after performing certain ceremonies followed in cases of installation and consecration of idols representing god. This is done more for the reason that certain section of the Hindu community believe that religious efficacy could be obtained even in respect of images of saints, by installing and consecrating them following the traditions of performance of certain ceremonies prescribed for installation and consecration of idols representing God and not for the reason that such ceremonies to such images are enjoined by Agama Sastras. We are, therefore, o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s per the promise, he made to the aforesaid Muthukaruppa Pillai for the contrivance of the performance of daily pooja in the name of the aforesaid swamigal permanently, the pooja, neivedhanam and Shodasa Upacharams shall be performed within the limit of Rs. five separately for each idol and Guru pooja shall be performed once in a year within the limits of Rs. ten. The deed further provides the details for the performance of the charities and unequivocally vocally mentions that the entire properties mentioned in the deed were dedicated for the charities mentioned in the said deed and for that purpose, the trustees mentioned in the deed were appointed. By the said deed. Chockalinga Pillai appointed (1)Muthukaruppa Pillai who completed the work as desired by him. (2) Pichai alias chockalingam Pillai the plaintiff herein and the grandson of his elder brother; and (3) one Gopala Iyer, a stranger, as trustees. The recitals in the deed, as pointed out earlier indicate that Muthukaruppa Pillai completed the work in respect of making of idols and installing them in a temple as desired by Chockalingam, that according to the promise made by Chockalingam, he dedicated all his properties for th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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