Praying, be it at home or temples give the people peace of mind. Will the temple goers be able to visit the temples on New Year’s Eve?
The Madras high court on Thursday refused to ban midnight darshan at Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu on New Year’s Eve.
Instead, a vacation bench headed by Justice MS Ramesh directed the Hindu religious and charitable endowment (HR&CE) department to file its response on a PIL, moved by advocate A Ashvathaman seeking the relief, by January 8.
The petitioner wanted the court to direct the HR&CE department to ensure that none of the temples under its control is kept open for darshan at midnight of December 31.
According to Ashvathaman, Hindus celebrate only Tamil New Year, which falls on April 14, the first day of Tamil month Chithirai. “The western New Year celebrations were not part of the Tamil Hindu culture and ethos,” he said.
“I am not against people visiting temples during the day time on January 1. I am opposing darshan organised at midnight in blatant violation of the Agamas. The Saivite temples and Vaishnavite temples could be opened at midnight only on Maha Shivaratri and Vaikunda Ekadasi,” he said.
He further said there were scientific reasons behind the Agamas insisting on closing the temples after the Arthajama Puja around 9 pm and opening them during the Brahma Muhurtham between 4.30 am and 6 am every day.
Justifying his plea, the petitioner pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government had issued a notification against keeping temples open for New Year celebrations. The notification had made it clear that the Ugadi (Telugu New Year) was the actual New Year as per the Hindu tradition and that spreading the English culture to Hindu temples was not appropriate.
The neighboring state had also deprecated the practice of temples spending lot of money for floral decorations on the western New Year’s Day, the petitioner said.
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