NEW DELHI, INDIA, December 7, 2008: The Telangana Archaka Samakhya has urged the Supreme Court to declare “archakatvam,” service in temple, an integral part of religious activities under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution.
According to the petitioner M.V. Soundara Rajan, president of the Samakhya, the apex court “dealt a death blow to customs, service and sampradayams of temples” when ruled that hereditary archakatvam is not an essential and integral part of religion.
The petition states the diminishing number of temples is a threat to one’s freedom to practice religion. “The continuance of hereditary archaka system has been left to the discretion of the local government. It dismisses any right to emoluments such families used to receive.”