The temple administration of the Kanchipuram Varadaraja Perumal Temple has announced that there will be no more ‘Utsavams‘ (temple festivals) at the temple and that only the Thiruvarathana Puja will be held.
This comes after constant bickering between the ‘Vadagalai’ and the ‘Thengalai’ sub-sects of the Iyengar sect over the singing of ‘Paasurams‘.
But both the sub-sects have been at logger heads for more than 110 years over who has the first rights to perform pooja and recite mantras at the Varadharaja Perumal Temple. The situation went out of hands when the Vadagalai and Thengalai sections exchanged blows during a temple procession.
In February 2020, the Madras High Court had passed an order that provided guidelines for the Vadagalais and Thengalais to sing the ‘Paasurams‘. The court observed that the Thengalai sect would commence the first two lines of the Srisaila Dayapathram slokas following which the Vadagalai sect will commence the first two lines of Sri Ramanuja Dayapathram sloka. Both the sects shall be permitted to recite Prabandhams together.
However, when the deity was taken for procession on the seventh day of the ‘Iraapatthu’ festival that happened yesterday (January 1), the ‘Vadagalai’ and ‘Thengalai’ sub-sects once again engaged in a spat over the singing of ‘Paasurams‘. The police had to intervene to bring the situation under control.
In light of this, the temple administration announced that no more festivals will be held at the Varadaraja Perumal temple as clashes between the Vadagalai and Thengalai sub-sects continue to occur during the processions. It has now stated that processions will happen only after both the sub-sects seek a court order.