Hindu Temples And Mutts targetted by State or UPA

02-12-2008, 12:46 PM

'Atheist' Karunanidhi to visit templeQUOTEKarunanidhi, whose remarks on Lord Ram in connection with the Sethusamudram project had created a nation-wide furore a few months back, would visit the Sri Lakshmi Narayani temple, popularly called 'golden temple', at Sripuram near Vellore on February 16, official sources said.

The temple has been built by 31-year-old Sri Sakthi Amma at a cost of Rs 300 crore and is made of 1.5 tonnes of gold. The temple has become a major tourist attraction drawing lakhs of people from across the country and abroad.

Karunanidhi would accept donations from Sri Sakthi Amma heading Sri Narayani Peedam for a government medical scheme for children, sources said.

Despite his strong atheist stand, Karunanidhi has met many Hindu spiritual leaders for public cause. He had raised many an eyebrow last year by sharing dais with Satya Sai Baba and Mata Amritanandamayi. In January last year, he had attended a function to felicitate Satya Sai Baba for his trust's Rs 200-crore project to refurbish Telugu-Ganga canal to bring Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh to this metropolis

02-12-2008, 08:57 PM

QUOTEThe vandalisation of heritage

T.S. SUBRAMANIANÂ (The Hindu, 10 Feb. 2008)

Murals from the 14th to 17th centuries in temples across Tamil Nadu are being painted over or 'restored' gaudily by unqualified personnel. It is time we acted more responsibly to preserve these masterpieces of a bygone era, feels David Shulman, renowned Indologist. Excerpts from an interview...

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The 17th century paintings on the ceiling of Devasiriya Mandapam at Thyagarajaswamy temple IN Tiruvarur are masterpieces of south Indian cultural heritage. If they are not conserved very soon, they will be lost.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: K.T. Gandhirajan

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/02/10/images...21050210701.jpg
Neither subtle nor nuanced: The 'restored' painting (right) at the Jaina temple at Tiruparuttikkunram, near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.

David Shulman is a man with formidable attainments. An Indologist, he is a scholar in Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit literature and arts. He graduated in Islamic Studies and read Persian and Arabic. He received his Ph.D. in Tamil literature for his dissertation on the sthalapuranams of temples in Tamil Nadu. That led him to study mural paintings in temples in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Dr. Shulman knows a dozen languages including Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Hebrew, English, Russian and Persian. He has written several books including Tamil Temple Myths, Songs of the Harsh Devotee and The Hungry God: Hindu Tales of Filicide and Devotion, all published by prestigious U.S. universities. He is currently Professor, Department of Indian, Iranian and Armenian Studies, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Dr. Shulman was in Chennai recently to attend a conference on "Painting Narratives: Mural Painting Traditions in the 13th -19th Centuries", organised by the Madras Craft Foundation and its heritage museum Dakshina Chitra. Excerpts from a conversationâ¦

You know the sthalapuranams of many temples in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. You have studied the mural paintings in temples in these two States. How did you get interested in sthalapuranams and mural paintings in temples?

My interest in sthalapuranams goes back 37 years. I was a Ph.D. student at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London under John Marr. His was a famous name in Madras (Chennai). He was my guru. John Marr was a student of a student of U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer. In the course of looking for a Ph.D. topic for me, we began to talk about the fact that nobody had done any serious work on Tamil sthalapuranams. It was a huge literature. We know of about 2,000 surviving sthalapuranams in Tamil alone. Some of them are in manuscripts, some in printed versions. It is an enormous, rich literature and it had been hardly touched before. So it seemed to be a good topic for a Ph.D. dissertation. I studied the Tamil puranas of temples such as Tiruvannamalai, Nagapattinam, Rameswaram, Kumbakonam, Chidambaram, Kanchipuram and others.

Photo: M. Karunakaran

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/02/10/images...21050210702.jpg
Responsibility to the past: Dr. David Shulman.

I lived with my wife at Mandavelipakkam in Madras in 1975-76. I would wander around these temples because I needed to see them. When you read the sthalapuranam, you obviously need to see the temple, the sthalavriksha (the sacred tree), the kulam (the pond) and the murthis. These are highly specific to these individual places. So I would basically roam around the Tamil country, mostly in Thanjavur district and also in the south.

In the course of my wandering, I happened to come across many beautiful mural paintings. In the Tamil country, among the hundreds of temples, many had and some still have, these beautiful murals. Some of them are quite old, some not so old, some going back to the 16th century and some to the 19th century. Pieces of these mural paintings survive all over the Tamil country.

I always thought that we should have a conference like this to bring these paintings to the attention of the public and the scholarly public so that people would begin to think about them, preserve and conserve them.

You touched on preservation. What is your impression about the status of these murals in Tamil Nadu? The paintings in Tiruvellarai temple near Tiruchi have been whitewashed. The murals in the Jaina temple at Tiruparuttikkunram near Kanchipuram have been repainted to look dazzlingly new.

I went to Tiruparuttikkunram on January 25, 2008. I saw the paintings on the ceiling. They have been destroyed by re-painting.

Are these paintings in temples on the brink?

It is not yet too late. But the problem is very urgent. If action is not taken soon, that is, immediately, these treasures of Tamil Nadu, which are part of the national heritage, will disappear. In some temples, these paintings have been preserved and they are not in such a bad shape. But in many places, they are on the verge of disappearing. Some of them have been painted over or whitewashed or repainted in such a way that it destroys the integrity of the old paintings.

For example, I was working in Tiruvarur. There was a beautiful, famous 17th century set of paintings about Muchukunda Chakravarthi on the ceiling of Devasiriya Mandapam in the Thyagarajaswamy temple at Tiruvarur. This set of paintings is well known to the public and the scholarly world. They are masterpieces of south Indian painting. That ceiling in Devasiriya Mandapam is in a miserable condition. The Mandapam has a special place in the history of Tamil Saiva literature. That is the Mandapam where Sundaramurthy Nayanar had a vision of all the 63 Nayanmars (Tamil Saivite saints). Today, people are using it as a godown. It is filled with all kinds of junk, old logs, rusting nails and dead rodents. It is a terrible situation.

These 17th century masterpieces have suffered from shameful neglect. There is now some hope that INTACH (the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) will go into action at the Tiruvarur temple and conserve these paintings.

If you go there today, you will see that there is a long series of paintings [on the ceiling] along the window in the Mandapam. Many of the panel of paintings closest to the window, that I saw 30 years ago have now been completely lost through water damage, smoke, insects, birds nesting, cracking of plaster and sheer neglect. Some of these murals no longer exist. I want to say again that these are masterpieces of south Indian cultural heritage. If they are not conserved very soon, they will be lost.

Yesterday, I went to Sri Varadarajaswamy temple at Kanchipuram. In the enclosure wall around the main shrine of Sri Varadarajaswamy, there are incredibly beautiful paintings of the 17th century. Again, they are masterpieces. They urgently need to be preserved. Preserved means not painted over. If they are painted over by new artists, they will be destroyed. Preservation means they have to be cleaned professionally by experts who know about these kinds of frescoes. They have to be carefully treated in such a way that no further damage will take place. If somebody wants to do some new paintings, there are many surfaces in all the temples in Tamil Nadu. But let them not paint over all these old masterpieces. That will definitely destroy them. That is what has happened in many places.

That has happened at the Jaina temple at Tiruparuttikkunram near Kanchipuram, which is under the State Department of Archaeology?

It definitely happened at Tiruparuttikkunram. The paintings have been ruined by being painted over. This is quite a common thing in Tamil Nadu. If you repaint it instead of conserving it, the subtlety will be lost, the old colours will be lost. This is disaster. These paintings have to be preserved as they were at their height. The way people do it in Europe. Frescoes in Italy, France and Germany are treated by professional people, whose job is to do that. For example, in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, which has Michelangelo's famous paintings, they went through a long process of cleaning, restoring and conserving these paintings.

I heard you were denied entry to the thousand-pillared mandapam in the Thyagarajaswamy temple at Tiruvarur although it is nowhere near the sanctum sanctorum.

I don't want to say much about it. We had a letter of authorisation from the Minister for Endowments. When we came to Tiruvarur, it was still very difficult to get permission to enter the mandapam. They eventually gave us the permission. All we needed to do was to take a few photographs to complete the set of existing photographs because we had good quality pictures taken 20 years ago. It should have been a simple matter and the authorisation was there. Still it was a rather difficult bureaucratic procedure. Although in the end we were allowed to take pictures. I am grateful to the temple authorities for that. But the process was traumatic.

Whitewashing and sandblasting of paintings in temples is going on in Tamil Nadu under the name of performing kumbabhishekams. How do you sensitise the temple authorities not to indulge in vandalism like this?

Photo: M. Srinath

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/02/10/images...21050210703.jpg

We talked about the idea of bringing some of the temples' archakas and administrators to a conference like this. Let them see and hear from experts what it (the destruction of paintings) actually means. They have control over these masterpieces but they don't always understand what this (heritage) means. They, therefore, at times too easily, as you said during the temple kumbhabhishekam or renovation, simply whitewash them away. It happened at Madurai.

Around the wall of the "Pottramaraikulam" (the pond of the golden lotus) which had murals, in the Meenakshi temple?

Across from Pottramaraikulam, there was a beautiful series of Nayaka paintings. I saw them years ago. They have been completely whitewashed away. They are completely lost. There is no way we can recover themâ¦You cannot simply wipe out a wall like this. It is a terrible thingâ¦

All of us, the general public, the archakas, the temple administrators and so on have a special responsibility in protecting these murals. We have to act now before it is too late. It is already too late for some of the paintings. Before we lose more, there should be a public awareness to properly conserve the treasures of the Tamil paintings of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/02/10/storie...21050210700.htm

Husky · (This post was last modified: 02-14-2008, 05:05 PM by Husky.)

QUOTE(Viren @ Feb 12 2008, 08:57 PM)<div class='quotetop'>QUOTEThe vandalisation of heritage

T.S. SUBRAMANIANÂ (The Hindu, 10 Feb. 2008)

Murals from the 14th to 17th centuries in temples across Tamil Nadu are being painted over or 'restored' gaudily by unqualified personnel. It is time we acted more responsibly to preserve these masterpieces of a bygone era, feels David Shulman, renowned Indologist. Excerpts from an interview...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 17th century paintings on the ceiling of Devasiriya Mandapam at Thyagarajaswamy temple IN Tiruvarur are masterpieces of south Indian cultural heritage. If they are not conserved very soon, they will be lost.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: K.T. Gandhirajan

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/02/10/images...21050210701.jpg
Neither subtle nor nuanced: The 'restored' painting (right) at the Jaina temple at Tiruparuttikkunram, near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.
[right][snapback]78412[/snapback][/right]</div>There is nothing wrong in that picture. What do they mean 'neither subtle nor nuanced'?

Hindu (and Jaina) Dharma are living, not dead. And where temple specialist-trained Hindus/Jainas try and restore colour and life to our mural paintings, even the Gopurams, it is welcome. We don't merely want to preserve the old washed-out colours the way they have now become due to the ravages of time, we want to get the life back into them whenever the colours wash out. That is part of temple maintenance. (Of course, restorations must be done well and expertly.)

Yes it is wrong for christoterrorists in Greece to add arms to statues of Greek Gods that their christo ancestors broke off in christo vandalism over a millennium ago. That's because it is not maintenance but further vandalism of an old valuable treasure that ceased to continue as a living item (thanks to christianism).
(Personally I'd make an exception of today's Greek followers of Hellenismos trying to restore their sacred religious treasures, if they do it properly...)

But for Hindus and Jains to restore or restoratively repaint our temples' artworks in a sincere, respectful, true-to-the-original manner is most welcome. We don't want to 'preserve' washed-out or broken sacred items as if they were relics from a dead/murdered past, turn our temples into museums and leave our artworks half-gone in order to learn to 'appreciate its present faded quality' as if it was all something that ended some centuries ago. We want to maintain our living structures for being a continuation from our past, in our present and on into our future. We don't want to pause our Temples' states in time to a few centuries back.

The Chindu should shut-up with its ever-so-subtle brainwashing of Dharmics into the wrong path. They want us to quit restoring our temples and Dharmic artworks so that we'll not do any reparations and will quit keeping our traditions alive.

QUOTEMurals from the 14th to 17th centuries in temples across Tamil Nadu are being painted over or 'restored' gaudily by unqualified personnel.From the linked picture above, I do not see how the person who restored the image is 'unqualified'. It looks alive, just like the Dharma is alive.
Chindu is trying to make a blanket condemnation of all restoration by not condemning merely poorly-restored items, but all attempts at restoration. They want to condition gullible Hindu readers into buying that all acts of restoration must be poor/undesirable; that deteriorated states of sacred works must be preserved instead. (While Hindu Dharma requires sacred items to be maintained - or restored if necessary, especially in Temples but also in one's own puja rooms at home.)

Now, why don't the communistas at the Chindu preserve the relic that is communism as dead instead of trying to revive it (which is futile anyway)?

No offence to David Schulman from Hebrew University who might appreciate the little he can perceive in Temples' artworks as remains from previous centuries, but he is viewing them with the eye of a person foreign to our religion and way of life. He sees these things as if they were glorious remnants housed in a museum. They're not.
Studying Dharmic culture is not the same as living it. They're our Temples and we want them renovated if, when and where necessary - but properly so, with taste, skill and talent so that the original is recovered: We want to see our Temples and Dharmic Art showing the same life, colour and vigour as our ancestors saw them in.

ADDED:
I do agree with this comment of Schulman (but my gripe against Chindu stands - nothing wrong with the restored painting of the first image):
QUOTEAcross from Pottramaraikulam, there was a beautiful series of Nayaka paintings. I saw them years ago. They have been completely whitewashed away. They are completely lost. There is no way we can recover themâ¦You cannot simply wipe out a wall like this. It is a terrible thingâ¦

All of us, the general public, the archakas, the temple administrators and so on have a special responsibility in protecting these murals. We have to act now before it is too late. It is already too late for some of the paintings. Before we lose more, there should be a public awareness to properly conserve the treasures of the Tamil paintings of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.I don't know how the Temples managed by the 'government' do it these days. If they are indeed overpainting ceiling and wall paintings in TN then I can see the hand of the terrorist DMK in there. Temple vandalism caused by 'Indian' governments has been going on at least since the christoBrits were in charge.
But I have witnessed the results of one much-required Temple restoration (this was not TN) - and it was exquisitely done, every small element had been carefully preserved/recovered.

My above-mentioned reservations are due to two things:
(1) It's The CHindu reporting - and since when have they cared about Hindu Dharma let alone Hindu temples. It's more than suspect, especially their inclusion of the first picture as an example of what they want to insinuate is 'incompetent' restoration;
(2) I can see psecular 'Hindus' (cryptos) using the real occurrences of vandalism-posing-as-restoration to prevent any true restorations in future. The "they must be preserved as-is" movements, in the line of the frequent showing of crypto-christos playing 'environmentalists' when they suddenly come out in force to protest age-old Hindu festival gatherings and processions. "The festival will crush way-side flowers and shrubs - they should not have processions."

02-14-2008, 05:16 PM

QUOTEVinayaka temple demolished

with police protection!

None cares if temples are demolished; sold or disposed off silently. In India , the encroaching, trespassing and taking over of temples have been a making inroads tactics for the Mohammedan-Christia n-Dravidian- atheist minded people. First, they construct compound wall encroaching the temple land; then, protrude the ceiling or sunshade right inside the temple land; construct wall according to the protruded ceiling or sunshade as mark and thus entering into temple land; in other cases, two-three fellows do these from three sides and cover up the temple. In yet another Octopus-type category, they engulf from all sides and the temple would go inside their establishment or disappear within times!!

Chennai Feb.14, 2008: The Police arrested 50 persons including 30 women, who protested against the demolition of Vinayalkar temple at Royapuram.

Vetri Vinayakar Temple has been there in the fourth Street , Munuswamy Thottam, Old Washermanpet, Chennai for the last thirty years. The people of that area constructed and had been worshipping the temple at the side of the road. Sripan of the same area filed a petition in the high court with the plea that as the temple has been near to his building causing traffic problems, it should be removed.

Accordingly, the Court has directed the Corporation to remove the temple. Opposing this, the local people and as well as Hindu Munnani volunteers tried to stop the demolition with the request that they had been conducting worship there for the last thirty years.

In fact, a woman, Ponnuthai, a regular worshipping devotee became so emotional that she even threatened that she would self-immolate, if the temple was demolished.Â It was a pathetic and moving to see the women were looking aghast and crying helplessly. Even the local Councilor belonging to P. M. K, Rajendran joined the people in the protest (generally, the PMK cadres have been rabid rabble-rousing atheist category).

Kamini, the Deputy Police commissioner of Washermenpet, Madsamy, Kannappan, Murai Assistant Commissioners had discussion with the protesting people. The people started singing Bhajans and lighting lights worshipping.

The Police however, arrested more than 100 people protesting there preventing the Corporation workers to carry out demolition and then, the temple was demolition with the Police protection. (Based on Dinamalar report, Chennai edition, p.15).

Comments

@Â The demolition of temples in Chennai / Madras or for that matter in India and even abroad nowadays have not been any news for any believes or non-believers or Hindus in particular.

@Â Believers, that too Hindus cannot expect anything more from Karunanidhi, the Number one anti-Hindu enemy, ruling like Aurangazeb, behaving like Ibrahim Lodi and looting like Malik-kafur .

@Â It is not that temples are coming on the roads or posing traffic problem, as many times, the road-broadening actually lead to bring existing temples near the road, on the platform or even in the or middle of the road. Remember, Avvaiyar, the great Tamil-woman poet who declared that "Do not live where there is no Temple"!

@Â In many cases, either the authorities or the contracting Company or individual involved in the roads widening or road-laying either undertaking relocating and rebuilding the demolished temple.

@Â Still, at many other places, the people forget or do not care at all.

@Â And in yet another cases, the local dadhas / rowdies, politicians and others who want to make money, invariably promote such road-side and platform temples, as they fetch money offered by the devotees. Here, also, they tried to protect their temple or rather "their regular income".

@Â In earlier cases, wherever the places of worship (temples, churches and mosques) were demolished, invariably churches and mosques re-appeared at or near the same place within months (e.g, church opposite to Saidapet magistrate court, Guindy, Adyar platforms etc) and the same demolished authorities did / do not care for such violations.

@Â Even today, if such places are to be demolished / removed, then the atheist Karunanidhi should have guts to do so instead of targeting Hindu temples alone just like the Malaisian Mohammedan President in spite of all modernism and advancement.

@Â The magnificent " Temple Car Tower " at Singaperumal Koil was demolished for road-widening, but it could not have been replicated or replaced exactly, and people have forgotten all together. At that time no S. Muthaiah cared or worried that an old monument disappeared. This fellow used to drop tears whenever, the so-called Victorian / British buildings are damaged or crumbled down themselves because of ageing. He writes immediately in "The Hindu" and "Madras Musings" at length to protect our heritage and so on! However, he does not bother about any other "heritage buildings"!! What to do, he could inherit only such heritage

03-03-2008, 06:38 AM

Something fishy here I think. I am especially suspicious because the DMK is in power in TN. can someone throw some light on this?

QUOTETension inside Chidambaram temple

Chidambaram (PTI): Tension prevailed inside the famous 'Nataraja' temple here on Sunday after priests tried to prevent a man from rendering Tamil devotional hymns 'dhevaram' inside the sanctum sanctorum, police said.

Unruly scenes were witnessed by the devotees after Arumuga Swamy, who had been trying to sing dhevaram inside the sanctum sanctorum for the past several years, reached the temple armed with an order by a court-appointed official permitting him to sing there.

About 50 'deekshitars' (temple priests), who own the temple, blocked Swamy reiterating their stance that he could not enter the sanctum sanctorum but could recite it outside, police said.

However, Swamy entered the sanctum sanctorum with the assistance of a police team led by District Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pradeep Kumar.

In the ensuing scuffle, the priests tried to pull out Swamy from the sacred spot. The DSP was also pulled out.

The police forcefully evicted the priests and Swamy was allowed to render the hymn penned by saint poets--Appar, Thirunavakkarasar, Sundarar and Manickavasagar-- praising Lord Shiva.

Swamy had filed a case in the Madras High Court seeking permission to sing inside the sanctum sanctorum. Admitting his petition, the court had asked Secretary of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Trust to look into the matter.

The Trust's secretary Santhanam had issued an order last week stating that Swamy could sing inside the sanctum sanctorum without causing disturbance to devotees.

Swamy had contended that dhevaram was sung inside sanctum sanctorum of the temple some 60 years back. Later on, it was not permitted by the priests. Nowadays, only the priests enter the sanctum sanctorum.

The priests' contended that Swamy could sing it inside the temple premises, but not inside sanctum sanctorum.

03-03-2008, 08:05 PM

QUOTE Chennaionline EDITORIAL

What is happening at Chidambaram?

What is happening at the famous Natarajar Temple at Chidambaram?

It is one of the most ancient and most celebrated of shrines in India. It is of great religious as well as historic and cultural significance. Chidambaram is associated with Nataraja, or Shiva in his Ananda Tandava pose (the Cosmic Dance of bliss) in the cosmic golden hall and the hall of consciousness (Chit Sabha). Shiva is also worshipped in the "formless form" of the Chidambara Rahasyam, while the temple is known for its Akasa Lingam, an embodiment of Shiva as the formless Space.

Of all the arts, Dance is the most sublime. It is only in Dance that you cannot separate the dancer from the dance. The creator and the created are the same, inseparable. That is the foundation of Indian philosophy.

The worship protocol here is unique. It is said to have been prescribed by Patanjali. It is an age-old protocol followed for several centuries, in fact from time immemorial. Right or wrong, every temple has a tradition of its own. It is as sacred as the deity itself. The deity gets its divine strength only from the worship that is offered.

The Dikshitars have a case. They dont say that no thevaram should be recited there. They say that according to the prescribed worship protocol, it cannot be recited from the Chitrambala dais. Othuvar Arumugaswami insists that he would render it only from the dais.

The matter went to the court, which directed the government to find a solution. Accordingly the Government considered the matter and endorsed the view of the Asst Commissioner of HR&CE. It was decided that the othuvar can recite it in the temple.

Othuvar Arumugaswami need not have made it an issue. He could have come to the temple like any devotee and paid his obeisance in the way that he wanted to do. After all, prayer is between him and the Lord. He need not have come there on elephant-back , in a procession.

The ordinary devotee is not concerned with this prestige issue. It is the duty of any responsible Government to ensure that the devotees are able to worship in peace.

Ramakrishnan
More ArticlesÂ Published on March 4th, 2008

Husky · (This post was last modified: 03-05-2008, 06:26 PM by Husky.)

What I find interesting is that each time the pseculars and cryptos insist on doing precisely those things that should not be done:
- cryptos pressing for women of the wrong age groups to get entry to Shabarimalai (no Hindu would insist on such a thing). Women of those age-groups are specifically not meant to come to Sabarimalai.
- pseculars and cryptos trying to break Ramarsethu when it is meant to remain for as long as Dharma remains
- ? trying to sing exactly from where people are not supposed to sing in Chidambaram

No Hindu would push for any of these things.

QUOTEThe worship protocol here is unique. It is said to have been prescribed by Patanjali. It is an age-old protocol followed for several centuries, in fact from time immemorial. Right or wrong, every temple has a tradition of its own. It is as sacred as the deity itself. The deity gets its divine strength only from the worship that is offered.

The Dikshitars have a case. They dont say that no thevaram should be recited there. They say that according to the prescribed worship protocol, it cannot be recited from the Chitrambala dais. Othuvar Arumugaswami insists that he would render it only from the dais.

The matter went to the court... It was decided that the othuvar can recite it in the temple.

Othuvar Arumugaswami need not have made it an issue.
[...]
The ordinary devotee is not concerned with this prestige issue. It is the duty of any responsible Government to ensure that the devotees are able to worship in peace.Othuvar Arumugaswami is behaving suspiciously un-Hindu.

03-05-2008, 07:12 PM

QUOTE(Husky @ Mar 5 2008, 06:21 PM)What I find interesting is that each time the pseculars and cryptos insist on doing precisely those things that should not be done:
- cryptos pressing for women of the wrong age groups to get entry to Shabarimalai (no Hindu would insist on such a thing). Women of those age-groups are specifically not meant to come to Sabarimalai.
- pseculars and cryptos trying to break Ramarsethu when it is meant to remain for as long as Dharma remains
- ? trying to sing exactly from where people are not supposed to sing in Chidambaram

No Hindu would push for any of these things.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTEThe worship protocol here is unique. It is said to have been prescribed by Patanjali. It is an age-old protocol followed for several centuries, in fact from time immemorial. Right or wrong, every temple has a tradition of its own. It is as sacred as the deity itself. The deity gets its divine strength only from the worship that is offered.

The Dikshitars have a case. They dont say that no thevaram should be recited there. They say that according to the prescribed worship protocol, it cannot be recited from the Chitrambala dais. Othuvar Arumugaswami insists that he would render it only from the dais.

The matter went to the court... It was decided that the othuvar can recite it in the temple.

Othuvar Arumugaswami need not have made it an issue.
[...]
The ordinary devotee is not concerned with this prestige issue. It is the duty of any responsible Government to ensure that the devotees are able to worship in peace.Othuvar Arumugaswami is behaving suspiciously un-Hindu.
[right][snapback]79325[/snapback][/right]
</div>
He is an DMK stuntman following his party's tradition of creating an furore about an non-issue and then gaining political mileage out of it. He is not interested in worshiping the deity in the temple rather wants to gain publicity. It will be not surprisng if he stands for next elections on an DMK ticket.

Capt M Kumar · 08-05-2008, 11:57 PM

Dharmadrohis, Terrorists, Maoists or Naxalites and Govt
This write up is apropos to the tragic happenings at Naina Devi temple, Bilaspur, Himachal Pardesh, India. But this is not for the 1st time such a tragedy has occurred. If you include Melas, I think not a year passes away without some some sort of unnatural calamity.

You will say as to why I have included terrorists in the title; 'coz, they don't have to fire a single salvo, just 1 miscreant is enough to design a tragedy of this nature.

What about Maoists or Naxalites: They are considered to be against religion and such an event is furtile ground to further their cause.

And now the Govt: Govt is secular or pseudosecular depending upon who is running it. And it has so many arms e.g. this event is alleged to be caused by lathi charge of Police.

http://o3.indiatimes.com/rxindiandemocracy/

Husky · 11-16-2008, 11:48 AM

Karnataka and AP temples' fund diverted by christogovt:
Some links posted by various IF members earlier and C&Ped into one post

Oh and I've been misposting some items that actually belong in this thread, into the DMK's and AP Target - Hindu Temples, Follwing the barbaric cult of EVR.. thread.

ramana · 09-01-2010, 10:42 PM

Quote:FRONT PAGE | Wednesday, September 1, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back

Inflation hits bhog, aarti at Ram Lalla temple

Biswajeet Banerjee | Lucknow

Priests seek more{Secular or what!}

As the nation awaits the Allahabad High CourtÃ¢â¬â¢s verdict on the vexed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit with bated breath, the pujaris of the makeshift Ram Lalla temple have approached the authorities with their own woes.

The chief priest of the makeshift temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi complex Ã¢â¬â Satyendra Dass Ã¢â¬â has written to the Faizabad Commissioner to increase the maintenance amount for the temple and sought a hike in the salaries of the priests.

Ã¢â¬ÅIt is no longer possible to carry out puja with Rs 43,600 per month. Prices of every thing Ã¢â¬â from desi ghee to flowers Ã¢â¬â have gone up. The Commissioner should increase the amount at the earliest,Ã¢â¬Â Dass told The Pioneer here on Tuesday.

The makeshift temple of Ram Lalla was built at Ram Janmabhoomi complex in 1992. Since then, puja is being carried out there on a regular basis.

The chief purohit gets a cheque of Rs 43,600 per month from the Faizabad Commissioner who is also administrator of this makeshift temple. The money is used for bhog of Ram Lalla and daily aarti. This money is also used to pay salaries to the temple staff that includes one chief purohit, four assistant purohits and four helpers.

The chief purohit gets a salary of Rs 5,000 per month while the salaries of other purohits and staff are between Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,100. In a rough estimate, almost Rs 23,000 goes into salaries per month.

Ã¢â¬ÅRam Lalla is offered bhog three times a day, besides being given the peda bhog twice. This is followed by five aartis per day. The bhog is prepared with desi ghee. Even aarti is carried out with desi ghee. With prices of essential commodities skyrocketing, it is not possible to manage the things anymore,Ã¢â¬Â Dass said.

Interestingly, the maintenance amount of Rs 43,600 is paid from the donations collected in four daan paatras (donation boxes) placed in the makeshift temple. It is believed that [size="7"]almost Rs 1.50 lakh is collected every month[/size]. This money goes to the Government treasury and every month the chief purohit gets a cheque of Rs 43,600.

It is not that the purohits are seeking a raise in their salaries and for running the temple administration for the first time.

Dass admits that their salaries and maintenance amount is increased periodically, and that last raise he got was almost two years ago. Ã¢â¬ÅIt is high time that our salaries as well as maintenance amount of the makeshift temple should increase,Ã¢â¬Â Dass said.

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So the Govt makes a profit of Rs 1 lakh a month since 1993!

No outrage at the money going inot Govt coffers at rate of Rs 1 lakh per month.

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