SC issues notice to Kerala temple committee after decision to discontinue ancient ritual | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea against the Kerala High Court order in favor of the board of Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple in the state that decided to abolish the age-old ritual of ‘udayasthamana pooja” on ekadasi. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Rajesh Bindal issued notice to Guruvayur Devaswom Managing Committee, Kerala government and others on the plea challenging the December 7 order.
However, the top court said the chart of daily pooja displayed on the temple’s website should not be changed.
“We cannot intervene now. We will inform the other party of this. At first glance we are satisfied,” the bank said.
Udayasthamana pooja refers to the various worship held in temples during the day, from sunrise (udaya) to sunset (asthamana).
The administration of the temple recently decided not to perform the ritual on ekadasi, citing crowd management issues and a desire to allow more devotees time for darshan.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by PC Harry and other members of the family with priestly rights at the shrine, contending that “ekadashi” was the main festival of the temple and while it was an admitted fact that the age-old udayasthamana pooja was performed on ekadasi day since 1972, in reality it was performed even earlier.
The petitioners said that the rituals were streamlined by Adi Sankaracharya and it was believed that any disruption or deviation would hamper the manifestations of the divine power or “Chaitanya”.