Madras HC invented Thiruparankundram Deepa Thoon ritual; courts should not interfere with temple practices: TN to Supreme Court

The Madras High Court invented a new temple ritual by directing the lighting of Karthigai Deepam at the Deepa Thoon on Thiruparankundram Hill, the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has told the Supreme Court [HR & CE Vs Rama Ravikumar].

In its appeal filed before the top court, the HR&CE Commissioner has challenged the High Court’s January 6 judgment which directed the Arulmigu Subramania Swamy Temple Devasthanam to light the lamp at the stone pillar during the annual Karthigai Deepam festival.

“The impugned judgment creates a new ritual obligation unknown to law by directing that Karthigai Deepam should be lit at Deepa Thoon... Neither the statutory scheme, nor any established custom, nor any Agama prescription, nor any prior decree mandates such a practice,” the appeal said.

According to the plea, the High Court created this obligation despite the devotees failing to produce temple records, inscriptions, Agama texts, archival material, HR&CE records or earlier judicial findings establishing such a custom.

As per the appeal, the Karthigai Deepam has been lit for more than 150 years at the Deepa Mandapam only near the Uchi Pillaiyar Temple, located partway up the hill, and not the stone pillar.

The Department has argued that a devotee’s right to worship under Article 25 of the Constitution does not include a right to impose changes in the rituals followed by a public temple.

It has also invoked Articles 25 and 26 to contend that courts cannot interfere with a religious institution’s autonomy in matters concerning rituals, festivals and ceremonial practices.

The dispute arose after devotee Rama Ravikumar submitted a representation in October 2025 seeking permission to light the Deepam at the Deepa Thoon. The temple’s executive officer replied that the festival would be conducted in accordance with the existing practice near the Uchi Pillaiyar Temple.

Ravikumar and other devotees then approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

On December 1, 2025, Justice GR Swaminathan directed the Devasthanam to light the Karthigai Deepam at the Deepa Thoon in addition to the usual places. The judge held that lighting the lamp at the pillar would honour Tamil tradition and periodically assert the temple’s title over its property.

A Division Bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan substantially upheld the direction on January 6. It ordered the Devasthanam to send a limited team to light the lamp at the Deepa Thoon. The number of team members was to be decided in consultation with the Archaeological Survey of India and the police. Members of the public were not to accompany the team.

In its appeal, the HR&CE Department has also questioned the High Court’s conclusion that the Deepa Thoon was a stone lamp pillar and not a survey marker. It said this disputed factual question could not have been decided in writ proceedings without evidence being recorded by the appropriate forum.

The petition further contended that the High Court wrongly required the Department to show from the Agamas that a lamp could not be lit at the pillar. The burden was instead on the devotees to first establish that the Agamas required the lamp to be lit there, the Department said.

It added that disputes relating to temple customs, usages and rituals must be decided by the Joint Commissioner under Section 63(e) of the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Act, 1959. The devotees had bypassed this statutory remedy by directly approaching the High Court, it argued.

The Department has also relied on earlier proceedings concerning the conduct and location of the Karthigai Deepam.

It said previous High Court orders had recognised the temple administration’s authority to take an appropriate decision while considering law and order and communal harmony.

The petition argued that the devotees were attempting to reopen issues already considered in earlier civil and writ proceedings. The High Court was therefore wrong in holding that the petitions were not barred by principles of res judicata, it said.

The temple administration’s November 3, 2025 decision was taken after considering historical practice, public safety, crowd management, police inputs, law and order and administrative feasibility, the Department submitted.

The Department further maintained that constitutional courts must exercise restraint in matters involving the daily practices and rituals of temples.

As per the plea, complaints about the performance of rituals must be taken before religious scholars, priests or the competent statutory authority and cannot ordinarily be decided in writ proceedings.

The petition warned that the judgment could have consequences beyond Thiruparankundram. If allowed to stand, it could enable individual devotees to approach courts seeking changes to rituals, customs and festival practices followed by public temples across the country.

Thus, the Department has sought a stay on the High Court judgment and permission to conduct the festival in accordance with the practice prevailing before the ruling.