Chennai: As many as 14 women have undergone priest training in Tamil Nadu in the past two years after the DMK dispensation revived the priest training schools in 2022, even as the Hindu, Religious, and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department has invited applications from interested men and women for admission in 2024-2025 academic year.
The students can choose to get trained as priests in either Shaivite or Vaishnavite traditions following which they will be considered for vacant posts in temples across the state. The government currently runs schools in each tradition with Shaivite being taught in Madurai, Palani, Tiruchendur, and Tiruvannamalai, and Vaishnavite in Srirangam, Triplicane in Chennai, Sriperumbudur, and Namakkal.
“Of the 110 students who graduated in 2023, three were girls and 11 out of 112 students who studied in the 2023-2024 academic year are women. We have ensured equality in every sphere and we will continue to promote the priest training schools and allocate necessary funds,” HR & CE minister P K Sekarbabu told DH.
The government cannot give appointment orders for now to the newly-trained priests due to a Supreme Court order.
This will be the fourth batch of students at the Priest Training Schools which was first launched in 2007 by the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to enable people from all communities to enter sanctum sanctorum of temples – of the 240 who passed out in 2008, as many as 26 persons are now working as priests.
The training schools were closed in 2008 due to a slew of court cases and the DMK government, which assumed office in May 2021, decided to revive them.
Apart from free hostel facility and food, the students will also receive a monthly stipend of Rs 4,000. Meanwhile, the schools that train odhuvars (who render devotional songs in temples) in Madurai, Samayapuram, Tiruvannamalai, and Tirunelveli have also invited applications this year.
The schools began admitting women after the DMK government in 2021 clarified that anyone irrespective of the gender who fulfills the basic qualification criteria are welcome to send in their applications.
V Ranganathan, President, Tamil Nadu Government Trained Archakars Association, welcomed the government’s move to call for applications for this academic year.
“We are happy that people are interested in doing service to the god. We are also helping the government in publicising the schools,” Ranganathan told DH.
The government’s move in 2021 appointing non-Brahmin priests was hailed as “historic” and was projected as one of the achievements of the DMK dispensation in the first 100 days of office.
While two persons were appointed as priests without much fanfare by the AIADMK government in 2018 and 2019, the DMK organized a mega event on the completion of 100 days in office in August 2021 to hand over appointment orders to 24 duly trained students as priests.