Challenging ‘only’ Brahmin criteria for Sabarimala job, OBC priests move HC

New Delhi, Dec 10: The Kerala High Court's devaswom (Temple affairs) Bench heard a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the Travancore Devaswom Board, an autonomous body under the Kerala government contended that only Kerala Brahmins should apply for the post of chief priest at Sabarimala. The petitioners challenged the notifications issued by the board every year, saying that the criterion is violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15 (1) and 16(2) of the Constitution of India.

One of the petitioners, Vishnu Narayan who has been a priest for the past 30 says he is confident that he has the ability to become the priest at Sabarimala. "Times have changed. A person should be a Brahmin by his karma, not by birth. In several temples, backward Hindus and Dalits are performing rituals. But at Sabarimala, we are being denied the opportunity for the sole reason that we are not Brahmins. This discrimination on the basis of caste should end,'' he contended.

Narayan who has postgraduate degrees in English and astrology belongs to the backward Ezhava community also runs Thantra Vidyalayam, a school to train priests in Kottayam. He approached the High Court after the board rejected his petition.

According to reports he said that his fight is for the next generation. Merit should be the only criteria that should be considered for the posts of priests of Sabarimala. Now a days only a few from the Brahmin community are joining this profession. Many young priests have quit as there is no social life for them. So the situation demands changes in tune with the times, he added.

Another applicant Rajesh Kumar sees the post of chief priest at Sabarimala as a dream job. Irrespective of caste, the post of thanthri at Sabarimala is the most cherished dream. It is our right and many priests are educated in tantra vidya, apart from the general stream and have the required experience of 10 years at a Temple. A priest with 23 years experience, Kumar said that the only stumbling block is the condition of a Malayala Brahmin.

In the year 2017, the Board took a decision towards social inclusion by appointing Dalit protests to Temples under its control. The entry of Dalits into the sanctum sanctorum was facilitated by the board's decision to select priests in line with the recruitment process followed for government jobs.

In 1970 to the Board had taken a similar decision when 10 members of the OBC community were appointed as priests. This was hoverer opposed by the Brahmin community. The Board then redesigned the 10 OBC priests as clerks and shifted them out of the Temples. The Supreme Court then intervened in 1993 for an OBC priest to be appointed at a Kerala Temple. However the post of chief priest at the Sabarimala Temple has remained elusive for OBC communities due to the condition that only Kerala Brahmins are eligible to apply.