April 12, 1999

Two-figure salaries, the status of peons and a life of penury. That's the plight of the state's temple priests, who have now decided to fight for a better deal.

By Stephen David

Manganur Chandrashekar, the 44-year-old archaka (priest) of the dilapidated Bheemeshwara temple at Manganur village in Mandya district of Karnataka, never bolts the doors of his house. The reason: the decrepit shack that he calls home has no doors. And with a salary of Rs 349 per month -- he hasn't received even this since 1991 -- there isn't much in his house anyway for a burglar to steal.

Even the measly Rs 349 that Chandrashekar gets seems a princely sum compared to what Padmanabha Dixit, the archaka of Devanahalli taluk, earns: a pitiful Rs 10 per month. There are still others, like K.S. Chandrashekhar Dixit from the same taluk, who get a monthly cheque of Rs 15 -- once in a while, that is.

These ridiculous amounts are what Karnataka's Muzrai Department, which looks after the upkeep of the over 43,000 temples in the state, pays to priests -- many of them Sanskrit scholars -- for performing their traditional religious duties. No annual increments and perks that other government employees are entitled to are given to the priests, who are Grade-III employees of the state Government. "We are equated with peons and low-grade employees. But we don't get their kind of salaries," says Narasimha Bhat, a priest of Avati village in Bangalore Rural district. Since the temples are administered by the Government, all the collections from the hundi and any other earnings from temple property -- even the coconuts from trees planted in the temple yard -- goes to the Muzrai Department.

Once a class pampered by the maharajas of Mysore, the archakas are today reduced to living on charity. Like Satish Dixit, 36, of the 800-year-old Rudreshwara temple at Kote village in Mandya district, who hasn't received his salary of Rs 300 per month for the past three years. "It is difficult to even feed my two children," he says, "how can I send them to school or meet the family's other expenses? Even the collection from the hundi (about Rs 12,000 a year) is taken away by the tehsildar."

Priests like him and Chandrashekar -- father of five children -- survive on gifts and contributions that come their way when performing pujas in nearby villages. "On the one hand the Government says there is no money in the kitty and on the other refuses to hand over the temples to archakas and their associates to maintain. We will do a better job," says Satish.

Tired of fighting a losing battle for survival and making umpteen representations before senior officials, ministers and even Chief Minister J.H. Patel, the priests have now decided on direct action. To protest against the Government's indifference to their plight, the priests -- under the banner of All India Hindu Temples Archakas Agamikas Upadhivanthas Association -- will close down temples in the state's rural areas and place the keys at the doorstep of the chief minister's residence in Bangalore on April 15. The archakas are demanding that their monthly salaries be increased to at least Rs 1,000 and that extra money be sanctioned for the upkeep of the temples. In case their protest fails to elicit any response from the authorities, the priests "will hang themselves in front of the statue of K. Hanumanthaiah (a former chief minister) opposite the Vidhana Soudha", says K.S.N. Dixit, the association's general secretary. "We are forced to take this kind of action because our numerous memorandums to the chief minister have failed to get us anything."

In November last year when the chief minister came to know that one of his departments was issuing cheques of Rs 10 and 15, he ordered that the priests be paid at least Rs 50. The order was never implemented and the matter ended there. Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too was sympathetic when the priests met him in January this year. He sent a note to the revenue minister to look into the demands but nothing happened thereafter. B.R. Narayan, president of the prieshe' association, says, "We even approached the state BJP chief B.S. Yediyurappa, but he says the Government has no money."

Karnataka Minister for Muzrai Muniyappa Mudappa, the man in charge of temples, however, brushes aside the priests' tale of woes. Claiming to have "visited nearly 20,000 temples", Mudappa says, "The personnel working in those temples have informed me that the charitable contributions made by the devotees suffice for these priests and there's no need for salary enhancement or other benefits." The priests, however, say all they get from devotees is a handful of coins because the people think they are paid by the Government. Questioning the veracity of the minister's claims, Narayan has now included the resignation of the minister "who has so detached himself from the ground realities" in the priests' list of demands. Says Satish: "The Government uses the money generated from our temples but does nothing for us. Look at how well priests in other states are treated."

Priests in Tamil Nadu (26,000 temples) and Andhra Pradesh (13,000) are better off, thanks to more responsive governments there. Priests in these states get Rs 2,000-3,000 as monthly salaries and as well as free ration. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has even decided to grant a pension of Rs 500 a month to the priests.

Karnataka priests are now of the view that only a more active role in the management of temples can improve their pitiable plight. Says K.S.N. Dixit: "We perform archana and other rituals on behalf of others and therefore we need to play an important role in the management and administration of temples. In the interests of the devotees, the archaka should be made part of the committee that manages the temple." However, the Karnataka Charitable Endowments and Hindu Religious Institutions Bill, 1997, provides no safeguards for the archakas. A new section in the law may even endanger the priests' hereditary right to perform pujas at their temples.

The state Government is reported to make crores of rupees annually from hundi collections of the temples in the state. So the excuse that there is no money to pay the priests' meagre salaries sounds hollow. What's even more galling is the Government's apathy to their misery. No wonder Chandrashekar wants to break the generations-old family traditiotrof priesthood and train his son for a more lucrative vocation.

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