HC retains the order of single judges against worshiping Buddha sculptures as Hindu Thalaivetti Muniappan

A court in Madras on Tuesday ruled that the court passed an order passed by a court judge in 2022 that does not allow sculptures, namely, Hindus in the village of Periyeri in the Salem district, worshipping the Buddha’s characteristics.

Justices SM Subramaniam and K. Rajasekar granted temporary ongoing confidence to the arguments made by the Special Government defender NRR Arun Natarajan for the Hindu Ministry of Religious and Charitable Donations (HR&CE), which prefers written appeals.

SGP argues that the single judge did not notice that not only Lord Buddha, but Lord Shiva and many other deities were described as being in the crossed leg mediation posture Padmasana or the position of the lotus, so conclude that the sculpture is Lord Buddha’s reason.

Even otherwise, since Hindus have been worshipping sculptures as Thalaivetti Muniappan, by building a temple, for a long time, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 (Special Provisions) Act (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 insists on retaining the characteristics of religious institutions that existed on August 15, 1947, it should not be affected by the temple now.

He pointed out that even the presidency of the Pandi Muni Temple in Madurai is Padmasana Pose, therefore, it is not appropriate to suddenly change the nature of religious institutions, especially when attached to more people’s religious emotions.

The Buddha Trust, represented by R. Selvakumar, a trustee of Salem, initially filed a written petition in the High Court in 2011 seeking instructions from the Ministry of Archaeology to examine the worshipped sculpture, known as the Thalaivetti Muniappan, and submit a report to the court.

Therefore, the National Archaeology Department officials inspected the sculpture on July 28, 2021 and submitted a report stating: “The sculpture depicts several Morank Shanas of Lord Buddha (great features).” The panel also submitted photos of the sculpture for the girl.

After noting the report, the single judge refused on July 19, 2022 to allow the HR department to continue maintaining the sculpture as a sculpture by Thalaivetti Muniappan. The judge once said: “The wrong identity continues after the conclusion that the sculpture is the Buddha’s identity.”

He directed the state archaeology department to control the sculpture and regarded it as a sculpture of the Buddha. The judge ordered: “The public may also be allowed to visit this place and should be ensured that any judge or other rituals are not allowed to be performed on the Buddha’s sculpture.”