At a time nonBrahmins have been made temple priests in neighbouring Kerala, non-Brahmin archakas (priests) in Tamil Nadu, who passed the priesttraining course in 2007-08, have urged the government to provide them jobs at the earliest.

It was in 2006, when M Karunanidhi was the chief minister, that an ordinance was promulgated allowing non-Brahmins to be trained in priesthood and hired by government-managed temples. However, the ordinance was challenged in the SC by the Adi Saiva Sivachariyargal Nala Sangam and the Thennindia Thirukkoil Archagargal Paripalana Sabhai.

After years of battle, the SC delivered its judgement allowing the temples to follow its own `Agama Sastra' for recruitment of priests.The judgement, however, was a huge loss for the 206 non-Brahmin archakas who had been fighting the case since 2009.

“If the Kerala government can appoint non-Brahmins as priests in the temples, I don't know what stops Tamil Nadu government from doing so. We request the state government to recruit us as priests in temples as early as possible,“ said V Ranganathan, coordina tor for the Tamil Nadu Government Trained Archakas' Association. Speaking to reporters on Thursday , he said, “We fought the case in the SC for more than eight years, and still we are yet to find the job that we deserve. It's unfair.“..Read more

Source web page:Times of India