This appeal has been filed by the committee of management of an institution known as the Bodendraswami Mutt, Govindapuram, by its managing member N. Ganesa Aiyar, a mirasdar in the Kumbakonam taluk, against an order of the District Judge under section 84(1) of the Hindu Religious Endowments Act, declaring this institution to be a temple.

In the first instance, the Hindu Religious Endowments Board claimed the institution to be a mutt and a right to levy contribution on this basis. On objection taken by the committee of management, the Board came to the conclusion that the institution was not a mutt but a temple. There can be no doubt that the institution had its origin in the tomb ok samadhi of one Bondendraswami, a holy man and a saint. To commemorate his memory, as is not unusual, a matam was constructed round the samadhi in which poojas and religious observances were being done. The main ground on which it was held to be not a mutt but a temple was that there were several big vigrahams or idols of Sri Gopalakrishna, Sri Rama, Lakshmana, Venugopal and Anjaneya and also pictures of Sri Radhakrishna, Panduranga and others and that puja was being done not to the samadhi but to