Respondents 1 and 2 herein instituted O.S No 359 of 1963 on the file of the Court of the District Munsif, Kumbakonam, for “(a) declaring that Sri Rajagopalaswami Temple set out in Schedule ‘A ‘and its properties set out in Schedules ‘B ‘and ‘C ‘exclusively belong to Pattusaluvar community residents of Slolamabgai village and directing the defendants 1 to 3 to put the plaintiffs in posses-ion of the same; (b) directing the defendants 1 and 2 to render a true and proper account of their management as trustees of the suit temple from the date of their appointment, viz., 14th April, 1959 till this date (date of plaint) and pay plaintiffs or the use of the said temple such amounts as may be found due by them on taking of account.” The basis of this prayer was that the temple belonged to members of Pattusaluvar community exclusively and they alone owned the temple and were worshipping the deities of the temple; it is a private temple which belonged to that community residents of the village and nobody else had any right of worship or in the properties acquired for the said temple; the Pattusaluvar community people are the hereditary adeenakarthars of the said temple and the mem