🐈The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court recently asked the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department to make sure that the castes of the sponsors or invitees for the annual festival of the Arulmigu Nadiamman Temple in Pattukottai of Thanjavur district are not mentioned on their cards for the event.
💦The court was hearing a petition filed by a local resident named K.P. Selvaraj, who insisted that the Adi Dravidars, or the Scheduled Caste, be mentioned on the invitation cards for the festival as mentioned earlier.
🔯This comes after an executive officer printed the invitation cards by mentioning the castes of various sponsors but did not mention anything for individuals belonging to Scheduled Caste and reportedly stated that they had not made any monetary contributions.
🌟The bench noted that selective visibility of lower castes only reflects the systemic inequality and it denies the indicuals and the groups of privacy and meaningful participation in social events.
What Did Court Say?
♚The Division Bench comprised of Justices M.S. Ramesh and A.D. Maria Clete reportedly stated, “We are of the considered opinion that temple festivals should be inclusive and celebrated by all people belonging to the Hindu religion, which, by definition, includes Scheduled Caste individuals as well.”
🌜Further, according to a report by The Hindu, the bench wrote in their verdict, “The practice of listing specific caste names in the temple invitation solely on the basis of financial contributions is unwarranted, especially when the exclusion of Scheduled Caste individuals is justified on the ground that they have not made monetary contributions.”
🦹Justice Clete while pronouncing the verdict, reminded the court of B.R. Ambedkar, the chairman of the Constitution drafting committee, who had once said, “The whole tradition of the Hindus is to recognize the untouchables as a separate element and insist upon it as a fact.”
𒈔Justice Clete in the verdict explained in detail how the caste system reflects in the functioning of the festival concerned. Clete wrote, "the socio-religious practices around such festivals have traditionally excluded the Scheduled Castes from active participation, except for assigning them specific services during the festival. There is no gainsaying that festival tasks are to be carried out based on caste: Cleaning the temple premises where the festival takes place and the paths used for the deity’s procession, erecting pandals, and skinning sacrificed goats are the duties of the Pallars. Clearing the waste collected by the Pallars, as well as drumming during festival times, is the duty of the Paraiyars. Shaving the heads of those who wish to do so during festivals is the duty of the Ambattars."
🧸Further Justice Clete explained why the court's verdict asked for the omission of Scheduled Castes from the invitation cards, by saying, "dominant castes are acknowledged while the Scheduled Castes remain unseen, thereby denying them meaningful participation in society. The failure to explicitly recognize the Scheduled Castes forces them into a dilemma- either accept invisibility or assert their caste identity to gain acknowledgment."
ꦏ"True inclusivity must reconcile this contradiction by ensuring that Dalits have the right to be recognised without being compelled to declare their caste identity, thus balancing their dignity, privacy, and equitable participation in public religious affairs", judge added.
༺The bench also expressed that the practice of mentioning the caste names like Rajus, Naidu Vagayars, Kallars and Chettiars for having sponsored the mandagapadi cannot be continued.
♏Further the bench was also not content about the fact that the Executive Officer who printed the cards with caste names, filed a counter affidavit to justify the printing of selective caste names on the ground of "Scheduled Caste residents do not contribute any money for the conduct of the first day of the festival".
