Archakas condemn illegal arrest of Pujari Ramasharma

The Temples protection movement demands that the case against B Ramasharma be withdrawn. He should be reinstated and his suspension revoked.

Chilkur Balaji Temple Archaka C S Rangarajan severely condemns the action of Endowments Department officials and a few others for carrying out false cases against the priests…

Sri B Ramasharma of Secunderabad Santoshimatha temple was arrested last week on the charges of stealing sarees of the Goddess of the temple. He was serving as chief priest in the same temple. Rangarajan questions the premise of the case in the first place.
The offerings in kind to the deity other than gold and silver belong to the Archakas as per Agama Sastras and also upheld in the Endowments Act.

When the legislation says that Sarees offered to the deities belong to the Archakas. Will you file police cases on them for stealing sarees?

Sec. 144 was amended to provide this freedom to the Archakas which was supposed to be authenticated by a specific scheme for each temple.

However, the amended section is not implemented for unknown reasons. This ambiguous situation has led to this false case.

Making false allegations on Archakas and torturing them is very painful and the police have no locus-standi to take the initiative and file a case.

In case the Department was feeling aggrieved it could have taken disciplinary action on the Archaka, which is also under debate.

Treating priests as thieves and sending them to jail is annoying.

Questions which the Endowments Department needs to answer.

1) When the legislation says that Sarees offered to the deities belong to the Archakas. Will you file police cases on them for stealing sarees?

2) When will there be clarity on the service conditions of Archakas who are the religious heads of the temples? They cannot be subjected to such insults.

The garments presented to the Swami and the Mother belong to the priests after the worship.

Hence, the Temples protection movement demands that the case against B Ramasharma be withdrawn. He should be reinstated and his suspension revoked. He has to be paid compensation for the turmoil he had to face.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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C.S. RANGARAJAN

C S Rangarajan belongs to the family of Hereditary Archaka cum Trustees of the famous Sri Chilkur Balaji Venkateswara Swamy Temple of Telangana State. He completed his B.E (Biomedical Engineering) from the Osmania University in June, 1988. He was educated in Agama Sastras as well and passed Archaka Pravesha Exam in 1995. He worked in many Medical Device companies before quitting the Engineering Profession to join in the Service of the Almighty at Chilkur at an age of 35 years. He felt this was a calling of God to help the worshippers at the Temple have a better devotional experience through his service. Most important is the fact that he has been assisting his father Dr M V Soundara Rajan in running the Temples Protection Movement from Chilkur Balaji temple which has set a unique trend against Commercialisation and Politicisation of Temple worship. He assists his father in running the Trilingual Monthly Journal VAK which is the voice of Temples. He has always been striving for revival of ancient temples and has played a key role in sensitizing the devotees on the need to revive the ancient temples in their ancestral villages. He has also taken keen interest in the welfare of the society at large by not only striving for inculcating devotional spirit in the devotees visiting Chilkur temple but also ensuring that the temple plays a role in the upliftment of the weaker sections through such innovative initiatives as motivating devotees to wear handlooms on Saturdays providing support to the weavers’ community. He has also played a major role in the movement to reform the temple system and also highlighting the pitiable state of the Archaka community leading eventually to the amendment of the draconian 30/87 Andra Pradesh Endowments Act . He has been instrumental in development of the Conservation manual for the Endowments Department by REACH Foundation. His LLM Thesis is now being published by the Temples Protection Movement

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