SABARI PEEDHTAM 3
Sabarimala - A question of Law or Logical considerations.
The contentions here may not be acceptable in the context of invariant principles and procedures of law. It is not certain whether Constitutionalism is open the law of invariance as it encounters in some physical systems. Law is subject to the process of interpretation drawing inferences taking into consideration the shifts and drifts in the societal values with respect to time and place.
The Fifth, Sixth and
Schedules have the operational mechanisms that address the variance factor. The non obstante clauses and specifications
like ‘Subject to the provisions in this constitution “ and “special to” strike the variance according the people
place, territory and the powers therein.
Can such a variance be
taken into consideration in the context of Sabarimala ?
The President of India Draupadi
Murmu stepped into Sabarimala Sannidhanam on 22nd October 2025. She followed the mandatory customs to set
foot on the holy Eighteen Steps.
What does it mean in the
context of matter that is being debated by
a larger bench of the Supreme
Court of India.
Not said in the law, or
explained in the ambit of constitutionality, the Head of the State, the President of India as and when steps
in to any premise of the constitutional dispute, it should naturally imply that, the President of India has occupied the
field. Once the President of India, occupies a field , it
becomes a void space for the Parliament, or Judiciary and the executive to have deliberations and
arbitrations. Therefore, it should imply
that all the question raised on the customs and practices of the temple and its premises under the provisions of the Article 26 in its
entirety is laid to rest.
While some of the customs
and practices are examined by the Nine Judges
Bench, the president, by entering into the
same premises would essentially carry an
inverse direction to the
effect of Article 143 of the Constitution of India which otherwise would have
meant the power of the president for Judicial reference. Even if it is not said or meant, the entry of the President in the premises directly
conveys to the Judiciary that the president
is in agreement and satisfied with the
customs and Practices in the matter, and let it remain so, without any
interventions. A loud message to the entire constitutional machinery to keep
fingers off from the premises.
The decision of the
President to visit Sabarimala was
announced well in advance, the Judiciary had ample time to look into the
whole matter, and to see if it has any probable repercussions on the
operationalisation of the Judicial process in process, and to give an advice to
the President not to occupy the “Field held
by the Court”. Powers between the
President and the Judiciary would
naturally accrue and acquire the stature of
“Extrapolatory Reciprocity”,
which is to be understood, as it is a unwritten
phraseology in the constitution, wherein, the President of India,
instead of issuing any direction opted to “Act as a Constitutional Barrier” to
avert a cultural erasure Judicial intervention. The President of India is not
merely the Constitutional head of the Country,
as the parliament being provided with amending powers, the president
perpetually is the constitutive
head, with the potential power to apply” Situational Discretion to avert a situation ‘ that can appear to be of the nature of legal
imperialism.
Before considering any legal
or political matters on
Sabarimala, matters should not be confined within the limited
context of guarantees and provisions to
the Hindu Temple.
The Premises called Sannidhaanam, as mentioned
earlier is the Sabari Peedtham and was
originally Dattatreya Pedtham, which existed much before the temple and
the presiding deities are venerated. Dattatreya
is the Guru of the lineages of 18 Siddhas, who patronised 18 Hills of the Paschimadri,
or the Western Ghats. We do not have
written historical accounts or evidences on the matters concerned with the
Siddhas and Rishis. They are
non-existent Persons in physical form, but continue to be the invisible Gurus,
Yogeeswaras, Guru Murthis and Brahma swaroopis for the Siddhas. In the case of Sabari Peedham and
Sannidhanam, to decide on the questions on the admission of females during
their fertile period is Swami Ayyappan,
who is in the ethereal form, who is
lively and living experience for those who follow the practices true to heart
and spirit.
The Constitution of India
has a holistic consideration of the religious base of the country. India is not
yet a nation, but a country. The Constitution of India is silent on the characteristic
features concerned with the nature of the very formation of the Indian citizen. A geophysical region that
gave enlightenment of Knowledge to world several millennia before a major part
of the world had opened the eyes, cannot be left within phraseologies and
terminologies of constitutional and current political wisdom. It falls outside the political ideology and conventional
thought of leadership who have translated
the bed rock principles of our
democratic polity into an organised egalitarian state. It raises pertinent questions on the basic
characteristic of Indianness when confronted with contradictions with the intricacies
of cultural and traditional traits, the same would act as tentacles of societal disorder. It
widens differences between various demographic segments on account
of shifts in the societal paradigms with
respect to parliamentary considerations
and interpretations of the Judiciary.
The general Public of
India, then with negligible literacy and education on administrative and legal implications of
the new constitutionalism, had and have no idea on where all they needed to make
amendments in their daily and customary affairs that have bearing on their community and societal life.
In a
negligibly politically conscious and illiterate society on legal and
administrative considerations, a law enforced cannot be a law of common good. It is true that every law, while being made
as a bill do not essentially mean that it will have the will and approval of
the electorate by virtue of the mandate to the legislators. The elected member to a law-making house is not merely a
representative by the virtue and
strength of Representation Act. State
Legislative Assemblies or the Parliament,
as the case may be. every member of the
respective house has the unsaid responsibility and accountability to detail
the people of their respective
constituencies on the details, including its application, merits, demerits and Impact in day-to-day life, societal inter
relationships and overall, in the public order.
Due to the very reasons, such
steps are sparingly taken by the legislators, India could not be a
constitutionally conscious state. Also,
equally, the members of the law-making houses are to be fully aware of the
customs and practices of the People including the communities , castes and
tribes living in their constituency.
Any legal question or conflict arising from the customary laws and practices of the people
or their religious places of worship, the
Parliament member and the legislative Assembly members are to present
their views and opinion and their
contentions would have to be final.
Yet, India has a
limitation. The customs traditions and practices of the demographic segment
called the Hindus are not uniform throughout the country and are not codified.
Every region and locale has developed their own practices. Devotional practice is person and family
specific and cannot be imposed. Every Hindu family and tribe in Kerala has a
presiding deity of the Family in the :Kudumba Kshetram and a Kula Devata”. Most
places have oracles , the symbolic agency of the main deity. Even if a presiding deity is venerated by Trantricism
and Agama Sidhaanta, the power of the
presiding deity will be imbibed from the temple fo Origin called “Moola Kshetra
“ and “ Moola Staana”.
Great Temples of India that have
as Siddha -Shakti - Peedths cannot be restricted or limited to the consideration of
religious institution falling in line
with the Provisions of Article 26 to execute the right of the persons according
to the conscience to profess and practice religion and to bring those under the
ambit of the Public Order , morality and health. Though the elite schools of religious centres
of Sanatanis can claim their Vedic scholasticism, they are based on Sadhna ,
upasana and pooja, and other rituals. The traditions have evolved the implication
of Vedaahi Yajjnaartham abhi Pravartha “, (वेदाहि
यज्जनार्थंम अभि प्रवरता
).
Temples do not surface anywhere in the picture, till the time Atharva
Vedic schools innovated Grihya Sootras.
A systematic development of human faculty developments conjoined the intermediary system of binding
communities with the dedicated seats
of Sidha Yogeeswaras, The simple form
of worship took shape, with the Brahminical segment drawing Shilpa sastra with
Yajjna and developing Agama Systems.
The complex system is beyond the scope of Governmental
laws and Jurisprudence on the basis of
political laws. In the indigenous
context of India , to day, the country knows only about 4 Adi Sakti Peedtha and 18 others included in
the total of 51 . India has 64 Yogini Peedths.
Sidha Peedths of India is
known somewhere as Jjnaa Kunjam ( GyanGunj).
Except a few , these Peedths are
never marked or identifiable., but recognizable to Siddhas. Sabari Peedth has also the Ashram of Sidha YoGini Sabari and is the only Sidha ashrama known to
exist outside the Himalayas. Siddha Ashrama is the place of Siddhi, Mukti,
Nirvana and kaivalya, and the complete metamorphosis of a YoGi into cosmic
unison, which are beyond the scope of erudite scholasticism,
Can the Constitutional
laws be extended to regulate a Siddhi Peedth ?
A
Siddhi Peedth is ineffable above
the definitions ascribed to that of
religious places or that of a temple.
The successors of the Siddha lineages
who are the custodians of the premises are
bound to uphold the sanctity and
reverence, by observing laid down procedures and practices. It may not be
mandatory that Siddhas are consanguineous successors of genetic descend. Siddhas
of the same trait and esoterism may emerge after decades or centuries.
It seems that the basic
difference between the constitutionality of the political Government and the
Political State have not taken into account to the extent it could have been on
the dimensions of Systems and Practices that have become diversified into devotion, worship of God and later grouped into a single Religion called
the ‘Hindu”. The Hindu in the Indian context cannot be equated or compared
with religions centred around prophesies
and revelations. Hindu is not limited to
devotion, worship, Murty Upasana or Tantrism.
Centres of Devotion and worship hold
the key and are the milestones in societal transitions designed to cater to the
needs of the general public. Such
premises of worship, the temples, the Kshetram do not fall under same considerations as that
of the Siddhi Peedths.
Religion is not a subject
of the political process and the mandate exercised by the electorate. Votes are not cast according to the religious beliefs and faiths. The Citizens of
the country withholds and vests within themselves their religious beliefs,
faiths , practices , customs and tenets while
casting the vote. The mandate in no way confers the power to the elected representative to divulge
any such powers to the judiciary to interpret or decide over the religious
practices, procedures, customs, beliefs and
matters incidental to thereof . Otherwise, the Political Parties will have to declare their policy approach on any religious matter
in their agenda.
The question on religion and
religious premises become a political and legal question as and when such institutions act as power centres that mounting
pressure on the government or supersedes the delegated powers of the
legislature to act according to their tune and dictum. There can be situations where
religious institutions unleash adverse campaigns, questions or commentaries
that creates unrest or act as irritant to the Governments and other religions or sects
which may lead to sociopolitical disorder.
Those silent and non-intrusive religious practices that have no bearing in the society, yet, have
been continuing for decades or
centuries, if picked up by some individuals groups to point out inconsistencies
with the constitutionality, it would lead to disruptions continuity of these
systems. Those who challenge such systems cannot leave their contentions in the
open for the entire spectrum of legal fraternity to dissect and find anomalies. Where the understanding fails, there the
values are lost. What one cannot conceive and accept as a practical reality of anything that cannot be visibly expressed
or found in physical form do not mean that those aspects are irrelevant and
cannot be allowed to be practised.
Matters and elements which had come into existence centuries before
the concept of religion and worship had taken its origin cannot be constricted
to the limited space of Religion. The elementary principles of cosmic
interrelationships and the practices that establish unison with the centric
force of the cosmos, have imposed certain restrictions and conditions for those
who desire to be in that order. That is where the Siddha Ashrama Dharma is positioned. The ultimate salvation ,
moksha and nirvana fall within the ambit
of Siddha Ashrama next stage after the siddhi Peedth. All the sampradayas or traditions in the mainland India, what is considered to be
the foundations of the religion of Hinduism
have originated from such Asramas where the intellect, knowledge, wisdom
and the understanding constitute the
core faculty of Rishism. India does not
have Saints and Sainthood, we have Sages
Constitutional morality
cannot be used as a weapon to encroach
into the domain of a system of practice that had been continuing from an
unknown period of time. It would remain as a pointer to the Political system of
the country as and when encroaches into
the matters of faith and beliefs that the
society interprets it as a challenge to morality and religious rights. The
state can regulate practices offensive to the democratic socialist polity which are detrimental to the terms of contemporary political realities. The
Faith, beliefs, customs and mannerism of the Communities act as a barrier to restrict the penetration
of political law .
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