Court stops Art of Living camp on Big Temple premises

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has stayed the “spiritual and meditation camp” to be held on December 7 and 8 by the Art of Living Foundation on the premises of the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

The court’s decision came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by N. Venkatesh of Kumbakonam on December 7 seeking the court’s immediate intervention on the issue. In his affidavit the petitioner stated that if the event was allowed on the premises of the ancient temple,  its sanctity would be harmed. The temple, he stated, was over 1,000 years old and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “The authorities have allowed installation of tents very close to the temple without showing any sense of preserving a monument,” he contended.

The devotees, he claimed, were put to untold hardship since the temporary shed hampered their free movement. Besides, he claimed that the track record of the Art of Living Foundation with regard to such events was not that encouraging since it had been responsible for damaging the fragile ecology of the floodplains of the Yamuna in Delhi in 2016 when it organised a mega World Cultural Event in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated. The National Green Tribunal (NGT), he noted, had slapped a fine of Rs.5 crore on the Foundation.

The petitioner said the authorities in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department of the Tamil Nadu government should not have granted permission to an entity that was identified as a violator. He argued that the temple has existed for many centuries and hence he and the general public have the right to preserve it.

Responding to the plea, the Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and P.D. Audikesavulu granted an interim stay and directed the Thanjavur district administration to remove the temporary structures on the temple premises.

S. Muthukrishnan, who argued the case for the petitioner, told Frontline that HR & CE officials feigned “total ignorance” about the permission that was granted to the two-day event. “They told the court that they had never given permission nor written any letter seeking permission to the ASI in this regard. They maintained that it was the ASI that had issued permission,” he said. The Bench, grasping the seriousness of the entire issue, directed the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police (S.P.) of Thanjavur to file their submissions by December 10 and adjourned the next hearing to the same day.

Earlier, Thanjavur town witnessed protests and agitations by various outfits against the holding of the event. Members of the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) organised a protest march to the temple. Volunteers of the Tamil Desiya Padhakaapu Iyakkam and others staged a dharna in front of the temple urging the State and Central governments to cancel “the spiritual exercise with business interests”. The VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan sought the cancellation of the event with immediate effect.  

Official sources in the ASI in Chennai told Frontline that permission for conducting “bhajans” by a private organisation was given on the basis of an official letter from the HR & CE Department. “We gave permission to HR & CE based on its letter since we normally do not interfere in any customary practices of rituals and functions attached to the temple, though we would insist that it adhere to our stringent conditions. Our primary concern is that the temple should not suffer any injury or damage,” an ASI source said.

After the eruption of the controversy, the Foundation shifted the venue of the event to a private hall in Thanjavur town. The spiritual discourse and yoga event was to have been held in three sessions in which the Art of Living founder and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and about 2,000 participants were expected to participate. The issue came to light when the Madurai-based journalist Ar Meyyammai after visiting the temple on December 5 posted a few pictures about the event on temple premises on social media. ( For story of December 6 click here )