Das, J.

1. The plaintiff of the Court below is the appellant here. The appeal is from a decision of the learned second Subordinate Judge of Monghyr, dated 31-8-1946, in Title Suit No. 20 of 1944.

The appellant brought the suit for a declaration of title and recovery of possession of certain properties said to appertain to Nongarh, Math, and described in Schedules I to VII appended to the plaint, and for mesne profits and costs. The appellant claimed that he was the duly elected Mahanth of a Math or Asthal called Nongarh Math in the district of Monghyr, elected in accordance with the custom or usage prevailing in the said Math. His case was that there was a temple of Lord Shiva in village Nongarh.

Near about 1758 A.D. Sri Sri Amar Singh, the then Maharaja Gidhour, dedicated Mahal Nongarh tauzi No. 338, to Lord Shiva of the aforesaid temple. Thirty-two bighas of land situate in mahal Manjhwa, tauzi No. 8271 of the same district, where also there was a Shiva Temple, were similarly dedicated as Shivottar. It was alleged that both the dedications were for public, religious and charitable purposes, the purposes being (a) to make necessary arrangements for the worship of the idol