Varadachariar, J.

1. Appellants as representing the five pattraigars or groups of inhabitants of their village, sued to recover possession of the village temples and the properties stated to be their endowments. The suit was filed in February 1920, and the plaint stated that defendant 1 had been in unlawful managemeut and possession from December 1911, the date of his fathers death. It is common ground that the father of the defendants, one Aswatha Ayyar, was in possassion and management from 1890 up to his death in December 1911; but the plaintiffs claim that Aswatha Ayyar was in possession only as their nominees. Defendant 1 denied that the plaintiffs had any right to the management of the suit temples or their properties and set up title in Aswatha Ayyar, either in accordance with the custom of the institution or1 by prescription. In the alternative he also contended that he himself, having been in possession from December 1911 had acquired a title by prescription or that, at any rate, the plaintiffs suit is barred by limitation. On the merits-with reference to the alleged claim of the plaintiffs and the management of the institution by themselves or through) their nomine