The main legal point established in the judgment is the freedom of choice for devotees in the use of language for archanas, emphasizing the right to profess Hindu religion and rejecting the claim that Tamil was not a recognized form of worship.

(K. Chandru, J.)

The short question that arises for consideration in these two writ petitions is as to whether the action of the official respondents in providing for archanas to be performed in Tamil at the request of the devotees in addition to the existing practice of reciting archanas in Sanskrit, would offend the right to profess Hindu religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution of India.

2. In W.P. No. 15791 of 1998, the petitioner claims to be the President of the Hindu Temple Protection Committee and seeks for a direction to prevent the respondents State of Tamil Nadu and the Commissioner for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (for short, HR&CE) Department from interfering in any manner with the ceremonies, poojas and mode of performance, daily rituals of temples by customary traditional mode of worship.

3. In W.P. No. 16932 of 1998, the petitioner, a hereditary archaka of the temple at Uthirakosamangai, Ramnad District, seeks for a prayer to forbear the respondent State and the subordinates from implementing the Tamil language in performance of poojas / archanas in the temple contrary to the Adamic principles.

4. In both the cases, notice of motion was ordered and counter affidavits have been filed by the State. In view of the interconnectivity between the writ petitions, the two writ petitions were taken up for hearing together.

5. Heard the arguments of Mr. R. Venkatakrishnan and Mr. V. Raghavachari, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P. Nos. 15791 and 16932 of 1998 respectively and Mr. M.R. Murugesan, learned Special Government Pleader for HR&CE and other impleaded parties and have perused the records. Though the matter was heard quite sometime back, since one of us [K. Chandru, J.] was posted at the Madurai Bench during the second half of 2007, the orders could not be pronounced earlier.

6. Before we proceed to determine the issue on hand, it is necessary to first understand the concept of Hindu religion.

7. When we think of the Hindu religion, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to define Hindu religion or even adequately describe it. Unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one God; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.

8. In defining these concepts, Dr. Radhakrishnan, in his book on Indian Philosophy (Vol. I - page 48) wrote as follows:

"Though philosophic concepts and principles evolved by different Hindu thinkers and philosophers varied in many ways and even appeared to conflict with each other in some particulars, they all had reverence for the past and accepted the Vedas as sole foundation of the Hindu philosophy. Naturally enough, it was realised by Hindu religion from the very beginning of its career that truth was many-sided and different views contained different aspects of truth, which no one could fully express. This knowledge inevitably bred a spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and appreciate the opponents point of view. That is how "the several views set forth in India in regard to the vital philosophic concepts are considered to be the branches of the self-same tree. The short cuts and blind alleys are somehow reconciled with the main road of advance to the truth.

9. In this context, we have to see, whether the attempt of the petitioners to bring in agamic injunctions against the authorities to permit the pooja / rituals to be performed in Tamil in addition to the existing practice, that too, only at the request of the worshippers / devotees, can be countenanced. Agamas are Hindu scriptures laying down the separate theological disciplines and doctrines for the worship. Agamas guide the