Judgement

Appeal (No. 33 of 1943) from a judgment and decree of the High Court (March 18, 1937) which varied a judgment and decree of the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Chittoor (March 31, 1925)-

The suit out of which this appeal arose related mainly to a dispute between two sections of Vaishnavite Brahmins, the Tengalais (southerners), represented by the appellant (plaintiff), and the Vadagalais (northerners), represented by the con testing respondents (defendants), as to their rights in the performance of the Prabanda Sevakalam and the recitation of Sthothrapatams (Sanskrit verses sung in praise of God) in respect of the Adhaypakam office (to which appertains the right of reciting Prabandam) in the suit Devasthanams. The most important question was whether the Tengalais had the exclusive right of conducting the Sevakalam, insisting that only their manthram and not the Vadagalais manthram should be recited at the beginning of the service. The High Court (Madhavan Nair and Stodart JJ.) held, inter alia, that the evidence supported the view that the practice was that the Vadagalai manthram was used by the Vadagalais side by side with the Tengalai manthram before the recitation of