In Tamil Nadu, a temple has been turned into a godown by some people who run a tyre shop on its premises. The President of the Spiritual Hindu Party, JSK Gopi, visited the usurped temple and wrote to HRCE and ASI in an attempt to recover it.

The temple was reportedly built in the memory of a saint who attained moksha. HRCE officials are investigating to find out the truth and restart worship in the temple.

JSK Gopi, the rare Hindu voice in the Tamil cinema field, posted a video on his Twitter page a few days ago. It was about a temple being used as a godown by a tyre shop.

He showed the temple in the video, which looked like a Shiva temple with Nandi and Linga murtis. Some parts of it were dilapidated. Gopi said that he was not allowed to look around the temple initially and that only after he threatened to call the police the shop owner relented.

When he asked how the tyre shop came to be there, the owner said that the temple’s land belonged to his ancestors. He said that a saint had attained samadhi on the spot, and the temple was built in his memory. He said that people used to worship there in the past, but it became dilapidated as time passed and neglected.

He also said that he won the ownership of the property in court. But when the HRCE minister and officials inspected the temple and investigated the owner, they found that he possessed no document to prove ownership.

Hindus have requested that the temple be repaired and opened for public worship. the shop owner claimed that a Lingayat man who renounced life was buried in the samadhi. Revenue officials found that the property is mentioned as a 'math' in the old records.

Featured Image Source: Twitter

HRCE Joint Commissioner said that as it was a privately managed temple, it was opened and shut at their own will and later used for commercial purposes. He affirmed that HRCE doesn’t have any documents pertaining to the temple but that the board will look into the issue and that the temple will be taken over if they find relevant documents.

If the temple is indeed private property, others don’t have any say in how it is run. But how it has been turned into a godown and tyre shop shows what is wrong with Hindus. Kings of the yore wrote strict conditions while donating properties for temple affairs. They gave severe punishment for straying away from temple duties as well.

Many temple inscriptions say that not fulfilling temple duties will bring them papa, which amounts to killing a milch cow on the banks of Ganga. That is how the ancient temples of Bharat were preserved through the centuries.

But today, Hindu beliefs are mocked and looked down, leading to such incidents. Unfortunately, even if HRCE takes over the temple, nothing much will change as HRCE is only interested in meddling in Hindu affairs.

References:

hindupost.in