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Brahmins do not have monopoly
to perform temple puja: SC

The ruling was given by a bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice Doraiswamy Raju while upholding the appointment of a non-Brahmin as pujari in the Kongoopilly Neerikode Siva temple at Alangad village in Ernakulam, Kerala.

"It goes without saying that what is required and expected of one to perform the rituals and conduct pujas is to know the rituals to be performed and mantras, as necessary, to be recited for the particular deity and the method of worship or ordained thereof," Justice Raju said.

If traditionally or conventionally, in any temple, all along a Brahmin alone was conducting pujas or performing the job of a priest, it might not be because a person other than a Brahmin was prohibited from performing the task, the court said.

It might be because others were not in a position and, as a matter of fact, were prohibited from learning, reciting or mastering Vedic literature, rites or performance of rituals and wearing the sacred thread by getting initiated into the order, it said.

"Consequently, there is no justification to insist that a Brahmin alone can perform the rites and rituals in a temple, as part of the rights and freedom guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution, and further claim that any deviation would tantamount to violation of any such guarantee under the Constitution," Justice Raju said.

The court said the aim of the founding fathers of Constitution to liberate society from blind and ritualistic adherence to mere traditional superstitious beliefs sans reason or rational basis has found expression in the form of Article 17 of the Constitution.

Article 17 says that nobody could contend that the rights under Article 25 and 26 would be violated if a non-Brahmin, even if he was duly qualified, was appointed as the priest of a temple.

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