HC says no to modifying restrictions imposed on Tiruvannamalai Karthigai Deepam festival
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The Madras High Court on Wednesday refused to intervene with any of the restrictions imposed by the Tiruvannamalai district administration with respect to conduct of the Arunachaleswarar Temple’s 17-day Karthigai Deepam festival which started on Tuesday and is scheduled to finish on December 3.
Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha took judicial discover of quite a few lives that had been misplaced due to COVID-19 and likewise the truth that lakhs of devotees congregate within the temple yearly to witness numerous rituals related to the annual festival. They felt that it might be very tough to comply with the COVID-19 commonplace working procedures.
Disposing of a public curiosity litigation petition filed by V. Sakthivel, State vice-president of Vishwa Puucho Parishad (VHP), the Bench noticed that individuals in such gatherings usually lack self self-discipline and therefore enjoyable any of the restrictions may make it tough for the police to management the group and lead to different issues.
Though the petitioner’s counsel insisted that the Urchavamoorthy have to be taken in a temple automotive on the 4 Mada Veethis across the temple on November 26, the judges mentioned they weren’t inclined to intervene with the choice taken by the district administration in addition to temple administration to take the Panchamoorthigal solely on the fifth Pravesam throughout the precincts of the temple to keep away from gathering of enormous crowd to witness the automotive festival.
The judges hoped that the restrictions imposed on the festival could be for this yr alone and normalcy could be restored from subsequent yr. The commentary was made because the petitioner feared that allowing any change to the mode of conduct of the festival would change into a brand new regular and the temple administration won’t revert to outdated practices thereafter.
Explaining the restrictions imposed, advocate AK Sriram, representing the temple administration, instructed the courtroom that solely 800 devotees could be permitted contained in the temple each two hours after insisting upon carrying of masks, checking their physique temperature and so on. The devotees could be allowed contained in the temple solely until November 28.
The Bharani Deepam could be lit at 4 am and the Maha Deepam at 6 pm on November 29 when no devotee could be allowed contained in the temple. “We will not be able to control the crowd, if we allow devotees inside the temple on that day. When it comes to the question of health, we must strike a balance between it and the need to follow religious practices and rituals,” he mentioned.
The counsel added that the Theppa Utsavam would usually be performed at Ayyankulam which was about two kilometres away from the temple. However, this yr, it had been determined to conduct the ritual within the Brahma Theertha Kulam contained in the temple. Only these required to conduct the Utsavam could be allowed contained in the temple on that day and entry shall be barred for devotees. The complete festival would come to an finish with the Sandikesavar Urchavam on December 3.
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