Temple Archakas

  • Specific brAhmaNa sects were traditionally given the duty and privilege of being archaka-s in temples run according to various Agama-s - More in [theory page]. Exceptions are many, including:
    • Pancaratra allows archakas to be from all castes subject to certain conditions.
      • sAttada shrIvaiShNava-s officiate in several bhajana temples. They live almost like brom in ritual cleanliness.

Traditional non-brAhmaNa temples

  • Several hindu old temples in India have been officiated by non-brAhmaNa priests - a phenomenon which has increased today [ST]. In many cases, the reason has been the deity’s express wishes.
  • In a temple, deity’s wishes are supreme
    • nandan who was indeed unfit to enter temples as per smRtis and deemed himself unfit without others telling him anything….(nobody prevented him from going) How did he enter tillai? bhagavAn gives direct command.
    • While pANan refused to keep his foot inside as it might pollute temple, Archaka adhered to his Lords command by bodily carrying him in.

In tamiL nADu

  • For mAryAmbA, paNDAram priests only. For draupadyammA, only vanniyar priests.
  • “Siruvachoor mathurakaliamman temple - priests r vanniyars. Many brahmins n other castes worship her as kuladevi. Temple used to belong to vanniyar community person before govt took over. "
  • “One of my tutelary deities is alankAri amman; pandAram caste priests. Some very famous temples such as esakki amman (saved my maternal grandfather from abhicAra) are all served by non-brahmins”
  • “At a Muthu Veeran temple, a Nitya Shiva Pujaka with a kudumi stands outside the garbagriham while a Vellalar priest performs the archanai”

Orissa

  • An Orissa temple exclusively officiated by married dalit women [NDTV18].

North India

Even in North, several temples have Priests from the Gosai jAti traditionally. Why do you visit those temples then? In Bihar some Pandas for Mahavir Temples are Dalits while Dhaneshwar Nath Mandir has Kumhar (Pottery) Pujaris.

Increased non-brAhmaNa admittance to temple-archaka posts

New courses

  • “In 1983, the centenary year of Sri Narayana Guru, Vishal Hindu Sammelan (VHS) was organised by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Ernakulam. The chief tantrik of the main puja conducted in the sammelan was an Ezhava and his assistant was a Namboodri. The same year saw the founding of the Thanthra Vidya Peedham (TVP) by senior life-worker (pracharak) of the RSS, Madhavanji, along with eminent Vedic scholars. … The peetham trains youngsters in all traditional knowledge domains to become qualified priests in Kerala irrespective of their caste. In a public ceremony, the certificates were given to the students trained in TVP by none other than then junior acharya of Kanchi – Sri Jayendra Saraswathi.” [SW17]
  • “The University Grants Commission (UGC) introduced ‘Karma Kand’ courses which could be studied by any student irrespective of community, to become a certified priest. … Interestingly, the move was opposed tooth and nail by Marxists and so-called progressives. the paurohitya (priesthood) course launched by Sanskrit Sansthan in Uttar Pradesh did become a success. The priest training course was given a support grant of Rs 14 lakh by the Human Resources Development ministry under Dr Murli Manohar Joshi.” [SW17]
  • “In 2011, Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister specifically asked Shree Somnath Sanskrit University in Saurashtra to launch the three-year diploma course of priesthood – purohityam (karmakand) and allocated Rs 22.5 lakh. … In 2017, Madhya Pradesh too launched a similar course.” [SW17]
  • “There is an aagama paaThashaalaa established by Adichunchanagiri earlier head with active backing of Deve Gowda which churns out shUdra arcakas by the hundreds every year. … Muzrai department only needs an Agama certificate.”

Advocacy

  • “In 2006, RSS magazine Panchajanya announced in its editorial that trained priests from Scheduled Communities should be appointed as priests in all “major temples in the country”. The editorial explained that “time has come to strengthen Hindu unity and ensure that along with those priests who are born Brahmins, Dalits and other backward classes are trained and made priests”.”

Non-brAhmaNa appointments:

  • “In 2012, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the governing body of Hindu temples, had filled up 50 of the 100 posts for priests with non-Brahmins. What was common to both 2012 and 2017 is the presence of TVP in the interview board selecting the priests.” [SW17]

Risks and corrections:

  • One can observe poor brAhmaNa priests in old temples still tending to them.. Simply because it is their kuladhana and kuladeva. People who have applied and acquired a “job” may not have such dedication (especially in a cross-generational timescale).
  • Community specificity makes sense: vaikhAnasa archaka-s of rich temples help their cousins in poor temples.