The Nataraja temple’s priests refused to show records to a government team that went to inspect allegation of irregularities in administration
A government team, led by minister Sekar Babu, visited the famous Nataraja temple in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. Photo: @PKSekarbabu/twitter
Controversy over the Chidambaram Natarajar temple’s control has flared up again as the priests of the 12th century temple refused to show records to a team of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.
The latest development has come after the government received allegations of irregularities in the temple’s administration.
What is the tussle over the famous Nataraja temple?
According to The Indian Express, a government team visited the temple on Tuesday to inspect accounts and administrative details and was denied access by dikshithars, hereditary custodians and archakas (priests) of the temple.
The officials of the HR&CE department said that the inspection was scheduled in advance and multiple reminders were sent to the temple administration, however, they refused to entertain the government team.
According to the report, the HR&CE department had sought all details related to the temple dating back to 2014, including revenue and expenditure, audit reports and bank passbooks, present status of the properties; details of donations, jewellery, and other valuable items and their estimates; details of land belonging to the temple and lessees and register of lessees.
Even though the team was received with traditional welcome and was taken for a darshan, they were later refused to pursue the visit’s purpose by the lawyers of the priests.
One of the priests told The Indian Express that the inspection was triggered by a hate campaign against the priests.
“We cannot entertain that…. Tell us about the complaints filed against us; give us details about the (alleged) irregularities reported here. Give us the 2009 report prepared by the state government on total assets here,” the dikshithar said.
The HR&CE minister, Sekar Babu, said that since there are “several complaints” against the temple administration, “it is the department’s duty to look at those complaints and find out the truth. If there are no issues found after inspection, the government’s duty is done.”
It should be noted that in a 2014 order, the Supreme Court restored custodian rights of the temple to dikshitars, giving them the right to manage ritualistic functions. However, other aspects such as administration and finance are under the government’s control.
Controversies surrounding the temple
In February this year, 20 priests employed at the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram were booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for stopping a scheduled caste woman from praying while standing on the ‘Kanakasabhai’ platform inside the temple.
A video of the incident had gone viral in which several priests were seen yelling at the woman as one tried to drag her away by hand.
The temple administration had earlier restricted access to the Kanakasabhai mandapam due to COVID-19 restrictions, however, the rule remained in force even when the pandemic restrictions were lifted. Last month, the state government issued a formal Government Order to permit devotees to worship from Kanakasabhai mandapam.
In 2019, a senior priest of the Chidambaram temple was barred from performing rituals after he was found responsible for arranging the wedding ceremony of a businessman’s family inside the 1,000-pillar hall of the historic temple.
With inputs from agencies
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