In a two part series, TNM delves into the implementation of the Tamil Nadu government’s all caste archaka training scheme and the challenges involved.
“Thiruvannamalai is a small temple town where everyone, including children, greet you with an om nama sivaya instead of vanakkam, if you have vibuthi (sacred ash) on your forehead,” says Ranganathan. Growing up in such a place, it was no surprise that he developed an eagerness to serve God. However, Ranganathan, who belonged to a Backward Class (BC), realised early on that his caste would become a hindrance to his dreams. He recalls that when he was in Class 5, there was a temple festival in his native village of Narathampundi, 25 km from Thiruvannamalai. The miniature idol of Shiva taken out in procession needed more garlands, and he ran to get them from the temple.
“I was about four steps from the inner sanctum when the temple’s Brahmin priest dragged me away and asked what I was doing. I told him that I was asked to get garlands from the idol inside. He said I was not allowed inside and that he would get them for me,” says Ranganathan. It was the first time he understood that his caste was standing between him and God in the inner sanctum. What young Ranganathan did not realise then was that he would find himself on a decade-long struggle against institutions entrenched in casteism in order to fulfil his dream.
Born into a middle class family to a teacher and a stay-at-home mother, Ranganathan has had a rebellious streak since childhood. Be it refusing to eat until his family agreed to feed his friend belonging to a Scheduled Caste at his house or offering flowers to the Shiva idol in the inner sanctum in his village temple before the priest caught him, he had always gone against the grain. It was unsurprising when he eventually headed the Archaka Students Union in 2009.
“In 2005, I was working for Hyundai in Chennai. The job required me to stand for long hours, and I began getting lumps on my spine. This required a minor surgery, but I did not tell my parents,” Ranganathan says. However, the surgery caused an infection in his blood which confined him to bed for three months. It was during this period that he came across an advertisement for the archaka (priest) training course. “My father, uncles and a few other relatives encouraged me to apply as they knew that I was spiritual and wanted to serve God,” he says.
Six temples (Chennai, Thiruvannamalai, Srirangam, Madurai, Tiruchendur and Pazhani) across Tamil Nadu had archaka training centres in 2007. These centres were set up by then Chief Minister Karunanidhi, to ensure that members of all castes could train to become priests at temples. Ranganathan was one of the 40 students in the Thiruvannamalai training centre. Ranganathan says, “Most of the students, including myself, were from middle class families and had assisted priests in temples in our native places but were never allowed to perform pujas. We believed that if we were qualified enough after completing this training, our dreams might come true.”
Since the archaka training would entail Brahmin priests to give up on centuries of hegemony in the temples, they did what they could to hinder the training process. “The government had advertised for the post of a Sanskrit and a Tamil teacher to teach us. But nobody came forward because the applicants were threatened by Brahmin priests. The Tamil Nadu Brahmin Association, South Indian Brahmin Association, and the Adi Saiva Sivachariyargal Association, took a resolution that no Brahmin from Tamil Nadu will teach the students in the training centres,” he recalls.
After pulling a few strings, Ranganathan was able to find a 90-year-old Sanskrit teacher named Ramakrishna Jeeva to teach them. But the teacher was attacked by people sent by the Brahmin associations and went back home, he alleges. It took a lot of persuading to convince him to come back, and he eventually did, after the students guaranteed that ten of them would be with him at all times. A similar pattern was seen with the Tamil teacher as well – the teacher would offer to teach the students and the Brahmin associations would threaten them and they would go back.
The students’ struggles did not stop there. When they go to the temple for saami dharisanam (seeing the idol of God after it has been decorated), the priests would call them by the most derogatory and casteist names. “They would trip us, pinch us and kick our legs to embarrass us before the devotees,” he says. Unable to endure the humiliation and not willing to lose their self-respect, Ranganathan and the other students decided not to attend the saami dharisanam. This matter was escalated to ministers, and it had reached the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi who passed a government order saying that ten minutes must be allotted for the archaka students to attend saami dharisanam and nobody must be allowed inside at this time. Ranganathan says that the Brahmin priests made it difficult for them to get trained to a point where the students had to pool in their money to sculpt an idol to practice their pujas because the priests refused to install the idols sent by the Tamil Nadu government.
The exams after the year-long training were postponed because of a case in the Supreme Court against the archaka training centres. A month later, exams were conducted despite the case. Once the exams were completed, students were able to get deekshai (initiation) which would enable them to perform pujas in major temples. However, the students did not get their appointment orders. Visits to the Chief Ministers office brought only reassurances. Other political parties too expressed their helplessness and told them that any solution could be brought about only after the case was settled. By then, word had reached lawyers Arun and Vanchinathan, who were fighting for Thevaram and Thiruvasagam (devotional Tamil hymns) to be chanted in the Chidambaram temple around the same time.
It was only when Ranganathan met the lawyers, that he understood that the Brahmins had gotten a stay against their appointment and that is why the matter was in the Supreme court. The lawyers suggested that the students form a union so that they could fight the case with a united front. Promptly, a union was formed and Ranganathan became their leader in 2009.
Once the union was formed, Ranganathan began getting threat calls from BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). He even received death threats, but it did not stop him from signing on to be impleaded in the court case.
On September 17, 2010, Ranganathan garlanded Periyar’s statue in Thiruvannamalai which was not received well by right-wing groups. “Members from RSS had arrived at the spot, pushed me down from the pedestal, slapped me and asked if I was trying to convert people to Christianity and Islam. The police and our lawyers came to the spot and the issue was resolved there,” says Ranganathan. He filed a complaint against them after being slapped and beaten up by members of RSS two more times.
Apart from threats and attacks, BJP and RSS members tried to convince Ranganathan to withdraw the case. He says, “They approached me and offered to fund my higher education and even get me appointed in a village temple as the priest. I told them only one thing – whatever they are promising to do for me, they should do it for the 207 students who graduated with me. They refused, so I too refused to withdraw the case.”
In 2011, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) came to power and Ranganathan and some students from the Union went to meet the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa about their appointments. According to Ranganathan, she refused to help them out and told them to approach Karunanidhi as he had introduced the scheme. “At this point, there was strong opposition from my family. They did not want me to go on these campaigns and hold protests because members from right-wing groups came to my house and created a scene. I refused and in a fit of anger, my father tore up and burnt my certificates and all the material related to my archaka training. I realised that if I stayed home anymore, I would give up on this cause because of the love I had for my family. To me, this cause felt more important than my family,” he recalls.
Ranganathan moved to Chennai so that he could fight for this cause. “There are days I have slept on the streets near the Cooum river because I did not have a place to go. I could have called my relatives here, but I wanted to do this all on my own,” said Ranganathan, adding that he lived frugally for five years, hoping that the judgment in 2015 would be in their favour.
In 2015, when the judgment came out, it stated that priests of any caste and creed can be made to temples except those constructed as per the agamas (rules that specify how temples must be constructed and rituals must be performed). Ranganathan felt this judgment solidified untouchability and was extremely disheartened. “I felt like my life’s work had gone to waste. One day after the judgment, I renounced by archaka training, gave up all my archaka paraphernalia and vowed to fight to end caste discrimination. I wanted to follow the path of Periyar, Ambedkar, and other leaders who fought to eradicate untouchability,” he says.
Now, Ranganathan works in Chennai as a magazine designer. Unhappy with the 2022 judgment, Ranganathan feels that the only course of action is for the Tamil Nadu government to ask for a review petition challenging the judgment. He, along with the union, is now planning to host public meetings and campaigns to publicise this issue.
Ranganathan believes that Periyar is the reason that he is able to live with self-respect. “I was able to study in the archaka training school because of him and go as far as the inner sanctum of the temple and perform pujas,” Ranganathan says. Although he disagrees with Periyar’s atheism and rejection of God, he believes that his ideas have helped him understand caste discrimination better. He adds, “If Periyar had not existed, I would still be treated as inferior to Brahmin priests because of my caste and would not have been able to train to be an archaka. We have come this far only because of the struggles of anti-caste leaders like Periyar and Ambedkar. Now, it is my duty to take their legacy forward.”
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