Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

1961. April 27. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SUBBA RAO, J.-These two appeals are directed against the judgment of the High Court of Madras dated February 19, 1953, setting aside that of the District Judge, Tirunelveli, and restoring that of the Subordinate Judge, Tuticorin, in of 1945 on his file, and they raise the question of maintainability of a suit in regard to honors and perquisites in the temple of Athinathalwar in Alwar Tirunagari.

At Alwar Tirunagari in Tirunelveli District there is a famous temple called Athinathalwar temple. The presiding deity in the temple is Lord Vishnu. Its origin is lost in antiquity. In 'the 10th and 11th centuries Vaishnavite saints, called Alwars and Acharyas, who were ardent devotees of Lord Vishnu, worshiped at the temple and sang in praise of the Lord. As time passed by, 20 smaller temples were erected to commemorate the lives of Alwar8 and Acharya8. Within the compound of the main shrine, there are three minor shrines of Nachiar, Nammalwar, and Garuda; the rest of the smaller shrines are outside the premises of the main temple. Each of the said temples has its own manager, archakas and separate endowments; but, presumably because of the fact that the Alwar8 and Acharyas, whose idols are installed in the smaller temples, were originally devotees of Sri Athinathalwar, an interesting and novel practice of mutual and regular exchange of visits between the idols in the smaller shrines and the idol of Athinathalwar has grown over the years. During certain specified occasions in the year, the idols in the minor temples are brought to the main temple for worship; so too, on specific occasions the idol of Athinathalwar is also taken to the minor shrines; such visits being reminiscent of the days when the Alwars and Acharya8 worshiped in the temple of Athinathalwar. Sri Ramanujacharya was one of the greatest of the devotees of Lord Vishnu and is well known throughout this vast country as the progenitor of an important school of Indian philosophy. He died in the year 1127 A. D. In the 13th century a shrine was built in his honour and his idol was installed therein. Sri Ramanujacharya is also known as Udayavar or Emberumanar and the shrine built in his dedication is known as Emberumanar temple. The manager and archaka of the said temple is known as Emberumanar Jeer. Emberumanar temple also is outside -the precincts of the temple of Athinathalwar. There are also mutual visits between the idol of Emberumanar and the idol of Athinathalwar to each other's temple. The present Emberumanar Jeer is the plaintiff in the suits out of which the appeals have arisen.

such as first theertham, etc., as part of the remuneration will lie in a civil court.

Athan Sadagopachariar Swamigal v. Elayavalli Sri- nivasachariar (1) is a decision relating to honours in Athinathalwar temple itself. The plaintiff in that case was a trustee of a temple called Pillalokacharyar's temple. The principal object of the suit was to prevent the first defendant from claiming to be one of the Adhyapaka Mirasidars in the temple of Nammalwar and Adinathar in Alwar Tirunagari. It was contended that the first defendant was one of the seven Adhyapaka Mirasidars in the temple and his rank in the ghoshti was just above the plaintiffs. Sadasiva Aiyar, J., posed the question raised and gave his answer thereto thus:

"In all Vaishnavite temples, the Alwars and the Acharyas take a prominent place in the religious ceremonies and observances of the temple. An attempt was made to show that there has been an interlinking and interdependence of the ritual and ceremonies between these two temples, but, as rightly found by the learned Subordinate Judge, in the matter of routine and day-to-day worship and rituals such interlinking and interdependence have not been satisfactorily made out. The rituals or the manner of performing divine service are uniform in every Vaishnavite temple. But, as found by the learned Subordinate Judge, though a ritual in the main temple is not dependent upon the ritual in the sub-shrine, the Emberumanar deity being an Acharya is intimately associated with the deity in the main temple in all the important festivals, the most important of which are the Margali and Vaikasi festivals and other religious ceremonies. There are several Mandagapadis for the Athinatha Alwar in the Emberumanar temple. There is Sethu Thirumanjam for the Athinatha Alwar and Embe- rumanar deities on three occasions, two of them in the Emberumanar temple and one in the main temple. Then there is what is called Alwar Sayanam which has to take place on the 10th day of the Margali festival and which is performed in the main temple. There are several other similar religious observances, where the two deities meet and certain rituals and religious ceremonies are gone through. The daily ritual in a Vaishnavite temple is a routine matter and on occasions, for instance, in the months of Margali and Vaikasi and on other festival days, there is necessity for the Alwars and the Acharyas to meet the main deity and ceremonies suitable to the occasions are performed. It is not possible to imagine a temple where God Vishnu is installed without the presence of the Alwars and Acharyas. Alwars and Acharyas are devotees of God Vishnu who have received divine recognition in their lives and the festivals in relation to them depict incidents of such manifestation of divine grace to his devotees.

It may also be mentioned that the installation of each Emberumanar Jeer,, who it may be stated is a Sanyasi, is in the Athinatha Alwar temple under its Dwajasthamba, the flag staff, and the declaration of the status of the succeeding Jeer is made only ill the presence of the deity of the main temple."

We may also add to the said facts that at one time the share of tasdik allowance to the Emberumanar temple was paid through the trustee of Athinathalwar temple and there was also an occasion when a trustee of the Emberumanar temple was dismissed by the trustee of the Athinathalwar temple. On the other hand, both the temples are under different managements, they have their separate officeholders, distinct rituals, different budgets, and separate endowments; and in the year 1926 on an application filed by the Emberumanar Jeer, the Religious Endowments Board declared the temple as an excepted temple indicating thereby that the Emberumanar temple was a separate legal entity and that the said Jeer was its hereditary trustee. The. only question, therefore, is whether the said facts enable a court to hold that one temple is subordinate or part of the other temple, so that the office-holders of one temple would become the office-holders of the -other. The facts clearly establish that in fact and in law the two institutions are different legal entities. In the past, the trustees of Athinathalwar temple might have disbursed tasdik allowances contributed by the Government to the various temples, including the Emberumanar temple, but it is well known that for convenience of administration the services of the trustees of a larger temple were very often utilized by the Government in that regard; it might have been that sometimes the amounts payable to the smaller temples were allowed to lapse, but there is nothing on the record to show that it was not out of negligence of the trustees of the minor shrines in not making any pressing demands on the trustees of Athinathalwar temple; it might also have been that the trustee of the bigger temple, in his supervisory capacity, dismissed once in a way the trustee of a smaller shrine in the locality, but that could be explained by the paramount position of the trustee of the bigger temple in the locality compared to that of the minor temples. These and such acts may show that the trustee of the Athinathalwar temple had exercised similar supervisory control in the past over the minor temples; but that in itself does not make the trustee of the temple of Emberumanar an office-holder in the bigger temple. It is well known that in the past the temples were under the supervision of the Revenue Board and later on under various temple committees. It cannot be suggested that on that account. the trustees of the minor temples were officers in the Revenue Board or the temple committees, as the case may be. We cannot also appreciate how the mutual visits of the idols to the other's temple and the honours shown to the idols on such visits could have any bearing on the question to be decided, though they reflect the intimate relationship that exists between the Lord and his ardent devotee Ramanuja in the public consciousness. But such cordial relationship existing between two independent temples cannot in the eye of law make the one a part of the other. Two independent institutions legally cannot, except in the manner known to law, be amalgamated into one institution by developing merely sentimental attachment between them. This argument was rightly rejected by the learned District Judge, and the High Court went wrong in accepting it.