Chennai : Tamil Nadu’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has filed an appeal in the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench challenging an order of a single judge imposing a dress code for devotees and visitors entering temples in the State.
Justice Vaidyanathan had late last year imposed a dress code to be effected from January 1, 2016 as per which men wearing jeans, lungi or shorts and women clad in anything other than saree, half-saree and churidhar would be denied entry into temples. The judge also wanted children to come in “any full covered dress” to preserve the ambience of a temple.
While the dress code has come into effect from the New Year, there has been criticism from several quarters as the restriction in clothing is seen as unwarranted. People have begun to question what’s wrong with men or women wearing jeans while going to pray to the deity.
In this backdrop the HR&CE Department has appealed against the order for an altogether different reason. The Department has contended that the dress code prescribed by the judge is not in consonance with the Tamil Nadu Temple Entry Authorisation Act, which permits individual temples to frame rules relating to attire as per their customs and traditions.
There are some temples, such as the Veeraraghavar temple in Tiruvallur district neighbouring Chennai where the presiding deity Himself is clothed in lungi.Incidentally, it has come to light that the HR&CE Department in its circulars to officials of all temples coming under its jurisdiction has only asked them to ensure that devotees wear clothes only as per the customs governing their respective temples and not as a generic code. The appeal is likely to be listed for hearing on Monday.
