Is Chidambaram The Right Role Model For Temples Freed From Government Control?

After the row over the alleged adulteration of the Tirupati laddu, there is renewed interest in the debate over who should be controlling Hindu temples. Governments or devotees?

While the idea of freeing temples from government control has received a lot of support, there is the question of how a free temple would function.

Those opposing the idea of freeing temples say that it could lead to certain groups dominating the temple, discrimination on the basis of caste, corruption, and a lack of accountability.

While the debate continues, Swarajya visited the Nataraja temple in Tamil Nadu's Chidambaram to see how a large and ancient free temple functions.

The Nataraja temple in Chidambaram is run by the Dikshitars, who have been recognised as a religious denomination by the Supreme Court. Their right over the temple was the subject of a long drawn legal battle and ended in their favour just about a decade back.

Does their administration address the concerns raised by those opposed to freeing temples? Can the Chidambaram model be applied to other temples if they become free of state control?

We shall examine these questions in the following paragraphs.

‘Koil Sattam’: The Temple Law That Predates The British Government’s HRCE Act

While the issue of who would administer the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram has been settled after a 2014 Supreme Court judgement, the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day administration is taken care of by the temple law, called ‘koil sattam’ in Tamil.

The law, which is followed till date with modifications made from time to time, is remarkable given it was written down and printed way back in 1849, even before the British government enacted the first HRCE Act.

While the law is not publicly available, this writer got to know some of its salient features from his discussions with temple secretary Venkateswara Dikshitar, activist T R Ramesh, and a few others.

No Group Of Dikshitars Can Dominate, Law Has Ensured Internal Democracy

The Dikshitars and their families together number around 3,000. Thus, it is natural to have many aspirants for carrying out the pooja activities at the main shrine or becoming part of the temple’s administrative committee.

While in the political sphere, aspirations for posts are taken care of by elections, the temple law has a model that does not prescribe elections but still gives the individual Dikshitars a fair opportunity to perform various functions related to the temple.

“All male Dikshitars become eligible to do poojas once they are married and have attained the age of 25 years. Duty at the shrines is assigned for a period of 20 days. Each batch is made of 32 Dikshitars. After 20 days, another batch is made in-charge,” said Venkateswara.

“There is no senior-junior differentiation. Any Dikshitar can be the priest for any shrine, including the sanctum sanctorum.”

On the selection of members of the committee he said, “A nine-member committee is constituted to look after the administration. All Dikshitars are eligible for selection as members. Their names are written down in chits and put in a jar. The chits are shuffled and an outsider is then asked to choose from them.

“These nine members form the committee and amongst them two are picked (again by chits) to select the secretary and vice secretary. The system thus gives a fair opportunity to all.”

Individual Dikshitars’ Opinion Has Weight

The law is careful to ensure that each Dikshitar has a voice in the decision making process, Ramesh adds.

"Individual Dikshitars have veto power. Any matter that is vetoed is then considered during the next meeting and voted upon. During the second time, the decision is taken based on what the majority supports."

No Hundis But The Temple Still Thrives With No Compromise On Rituals

The Nataraja temple has six poojas during the day. During the course of the year, it has two major festivals—the Aani Thirumanjanam and Arudhra Darshanam. These are celebrated in a grand manner.

All of this requires money to sustain. And this leads to the question that many devotees who come to the temple for the first time ask—how do devotees donate if there are no hundis.

Answering this question, Venkateswara said, “The temple runs mainly on sponsorships. These are fixed on a yearly basis. We also receive some income from the revenue generated by temple lands, which are under the control of a Special Tahsildar.

"We are able to sustain because the money received is strictly used for temple activities only. We do not have any other big expenses as we do not purchase things like cars or run big offices with lots of staff.”

Dikshitars Survive On Dakshina

“How do individual Dikshitars look after themselves and their families?,” I asked him.

“We have a system called kattalai, in which if any devotee wants to get a certain puja done, they get in touch with individual Dikshitars and agree on the amount to be given towards the expenses. While the major part of it is used for the procuring the puja materials, a small part is received by the Dikshitar as dakshina. This is what is used by individual Dikshitars.”

Two Dikshitars, Sivakarnan and Thanga Ganesh, who briefed this writer about the shrines in the temple and their history, added that the individual Dikshitars also contribute to the temple every 20 days. 

“In times like child-birth or a death in the family, the temple gives monetary help to individual Dikshitars to carry out the rituals.”

“We take care of the temple and the temple takes care of us,” said Sivakarnan summing up the relationship between the temple and the Dikshitars. 

Hundis Were Placed When Government Was Present In The Temple But Wrong To Cite Those Collections To Blame Dikshitars: Temple Lawyer G Chandrasekhar

The temple was under joint management during 2009-14. During those days, the government placed hundis and a certain amount was collected over the years.

The same is often stated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government today to allege that the Dikshitars are not maintaining proper accounts of donations or using the money donated to the temple for personal use. The Dikshitars deny this.

G Chandrasekhar, who represents the temple and the Dikshitars in legal matters, said that the DMK’s argument is flawed. “When you keep a hundi, you are in a way urging people to donate to the temple. But the temple runs on the kattalai system (mentioned above) and sponsorships. 

“What a devotee gives to the Dikshitar for carrying out a puja is between him and that particular Dikshitar. One devotee may give Rs 1000, the other may give Rs 2000 for the same purpose. If at all there are any issues, it is the devotee who is the affected party and he should be the one complaining and not the state.”

Ramesh added that with regard to accounts, the Chidambaram temple was better than those run by the state government.

“While the government run temples are audited internally and there are more than a million audit objections pending since the 1980s, this temple’s accounts are being audited by external auditors.”

Unlike Other Temples, The Nataraja Temple Does Not Control Its Lands

The temple was recently in the news after it was claimed that the Dikshitars had sold off 2000 acres out of the 3000 acres belonging to the temple. 

Ramesh had immediately countered the claim in a post on X and pointed out that the control of the temple’s lands has been with a Special Tahsildar since 1976. He added that the claim was made because the Madras High Court had questioned the government over the low revenue being realised from the lands.

“The revenue is indeed an abysmally low figure of around Rs 1 lakh per year and even that is not given to the temple directly. It is given to TANGEDCO to pay for the temple’s electricity bills,” said Chandrasekhar, when asked about the latest update on the case.

A Dikshitar who did not want to be named said that it is often government officials who are found to be involved in such matters in connivance with politicians.

“Just days after the baseless allegations against us, a deputy collector in Karaikal was arrested for illegally selling temple land. It is Lord Nataraja’s way of showing the mirror to them.”

People Of All Castes And Religions Are Allowed Into The Temple

As mentioned initially, one of the issues raised by those opposing freeing temples from government control, is that it could lead to discrimination of people based on their caste, with certain sections not being allowed entry. 

These people often cite the example of a few temples from Tamil Nadu, where Dalits had not been allowed to enter, in order to support their argument.

Viewing the temple’s rules from that standpoint, it is important to note that it allows people from all castes and even those not belonging to the Hindu religion to enter.

Ramesh, who has been a long-time proponent of freeing temples, said that the argument that government control would ensure that caste discrimination does not occur is wrong.

“Entry of Dalits into temples is ensured by the Temple Entry Act and not the Tamil Nadu HRCE Act. The HRCE Act just talks of non-discrimination in the distribution of prasad. So even if temples are in the control of devotees and they disallow entry of Dalits, action can be taken against them.”

Dikshitars Themselves Make The Prasad

According to a number of Dikshitars this writer spoke to, quality of the prasad has been ensured because they themselves prepare it inside the temple. It is consumed by them and also distributed amongst devotees. However, the quantity is not as large as other temples.

Need For Multiple Keys Keeps Jewellery Secure

At a time when there have been reports of gold and jewellery being stolen or going missing from temples, having systems for ensuring security of the temple's wealth assume significance.

Speaking about the Chidambaram temple, Venkateswara explained that no individual could access the temple's jewellery.

"There are 20 keys with 20 different people. All of them are needed if any ornaments have to be taken out. Further, these 20 members have to be given a written notice seven days before and if someone does not turn up without a valid reason, he would be fined."

“Our systems is so good that in the earlier days when disputes arose in temples, a commission of Chidambaram Dikshitars, known as ‘Kangani’ used to be sent to resolve the matter,” he added.

Security of Temple: Dikshitars Stay At Night Too

Unlike government run temples, which often have police personnel posted in their premises, Dikshitars themselves take care of the temple alongwith a small number of private security guards. The idea behind such an arrangement is to ensure that nothing would happen in the temple without the knowledge of the Dikshitars.

"Those tasked with staying at the temple overnight have to register their attendance by affixing their signatures. On the next morning we have to collect a receipt", said Sivakarnan. "The thorough rules that we have might surprise outsiders," he added with a smile.

Can This Model Be Followed By Other Temples ?

As this writer made his way back from the temple sometime later after the last ceremony of that day, i.e. the Arthajama puja, his thoughts circled back to the questions which this report sought to answer.

To put it succintly—there are good provisions in the administrative model followed by this temple but there are certain limitations.

Even though provisions like allowing all individual Dikshitars to have a chance to serve on the committee or the need for a large number of keys for accessing the jewellery are indeed praiseworthy, what must be understood is that this model works mainly because it is a temple belonging to a religious denomination.

The Dikshitars have a systematic training and have been doing the same for centuries. They have also eschewed the riches that the modern day economy could provide and continued to look after the temple. This may not be the case with other temples, which were managed differently before governments took over.

Further, unlike the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, others are likely to have the lands under the direct control of the temple management or have hundis installed in their premises. They would thus require to come up with their own systems to manage their assets.

Notwithstanding the limitations in adaptability of the model, the crux of the matter remains that temples in our country are capable of managing themselves reasonably well and it is not as if there would be chaos if government control ceases.

If the Dikshitars in Chidambaram can do it, so can others.