Judgment

P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR J.: These four appeals represent the last stage of a long and tortuous litigation between the appellants Waghmares (also called Guravs) who claim the rights of hereditary worshippers in the Shree Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Sansthan, Alandi, and respondents 1 to 6 who are the trustees of the said Sansthan Alandi, which is a small town situated on the banks of the river Indrayani at a distance of about 14 miles from Poona, is regarded as a holy place of pilgrimage by thousands of Hindu devotees. In the last quarter of the 13th century Shree Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, the great Maharashtra Saint and Philosopher, lived at Alandi. He was a spiritual teacher and reformer; by his saintly life and his inspiring and illuminating commentary on the Bhagvad Gita, known as Dnyaneshwari, he helped to create a popular urge and fervour for religious and social revolution which led to the foundation of a devotional cult; the followers of this cult are known as Warkaris in Maharashtra. They refuse to recognise any barriers of caste or class; and amongst them prevails a feeling of real and genuine spiritual brotherhood. Every year, in the months of July and November, thousands of them proceed on pilgrimage on foot and accompany the annual palanquin procession from Alandi to Pandharpur. Phandharpur is the chief center of pilgrimage in Maharashtra and it is regarded by devotees as the Banares of Southern India. About 1300 A. D. Shree Dnyaneshwar Maharaj took Samadhi at Alandi and since then Alandi also has become a place of pilgrimage.

2. In or about 1500 A. D. a big temple was erected in front of the idol of Shiva called Siddheshwar where the said Shree Dnyaneshwar Maharaj took his Samadhi. In due course the Mahratta Kings and the Peshwas of Poona granted the village of Alandi in inam for the upkeep of the temple and the Samadhi. About 1760 A. D. Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao framed a budget called Beheda or Taleband in order to regulate the management and worship of the shrine and provided for proper administration of its annual revenue amounting to Rs. 1,725. The appellants claim that their ancestors were then in possession of the temple and managment of its affairs especially the worship of the shrine. The budget framed by the Peshwa shows that out of the sum of Rs. 1,725 an amount of Rs. 361 was assigned to the worshippers for some of their services.

3. After the fall of the Mahratta power the management of Alandi passed into the hands of the East India Company which continued the old arrangement without any interference. In 1852, under orders from the Government of Bombay the Collector of Poona drew up a yadi or memorandum appointing six persons as punchas (trustees) with directions to them for the management of the temple in accordance with the old tradition and practice as well as for the administration of the revenue of the village subject to the control and sanction of the Collector. This arrangement came to be described as "the scheme of 1852".

4. In 1863 the Religious Endowment Act was passed, and in consequence, in 1864 the Government of Bombay withdrew their superintendence over the affairs of the Alandi Sansthan; and the trustees continued to manage the affairs of the temple without any supervision on the part of the Government. It was during this period that the appellants ancestors began to assert that they were the owners of the shrine while the trustees insisted on treating them as the servants of the shrine. This conflict inevitably led to several disputes between the worshippers and the trustees.

5. Matters appear to have come to a crisis in 1911 when the trustees dismissed eleven Guravs from the temple service on the ground that they were found guilty of gross misconduct. The Guravs nevertheless asserted that they were the owners of the shrine and that the trustees had no authority or power to dismiss them. Taking their stand on their ownership of the shrine some of the dismissed Guravs filed Civil Suit No. 485 of 1911