'Free But Not Completely': The Madhyama Marga For Temple Management Followed By ‘Scheme Temples’ Of Nagarathar Chettiar Community

Dear Reader,

We're back with another piece from our Free Temples Agenda special issue.

A few days back we sent you an article by Rajesh S where he detailed how the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu is administered and run privately out of government control. You can read it here, ICYMI.

The question we explored was whether this template could be a model for the management of free temples across India.

While you ponder on the same, today we're sending you a third model — apart from government control and private control.

The biggest concerns some express with regard to freeing the temples from government control and private administration are chances of discrimination and accountability.

On the other hand, the governments, devoid of any devotional spirit, have demonstrably shown apathy in the management of temples — the most recent example being the Tirupati laddu controversy. Then there is also the poor state of queue management and other facilities for devotees.

Rajesh visited the centuries’ old temples of Nagarathar Chettiar community in eastern Tamil Nadu. The Nagarathars are divided into nine clans, with each clan having its own temple.

Refered to as 'scheme temples', these are "free but not completely". These temples, while still under government, have significant operational autonomy.

Read this interesting report on the middle path between freeing temples of all government control and the current system of the government running everything.

Does it hold any lessons that can be taken as inputs by other temples if they are freed?

PS: This story is part of our special issue on the issue of government control of temples and how best to change it.

- Anmol N Jain