Madras High Court directed the HR&CE Department to prohibit caste suffixes in temple festival invitations, citing Thiruvalluvar’s 972nd couplet declaring birth equality while condemning official perpetuation of divisive identities.
A single-judge bench ruled temple authorities must print Ubayatharar donors’ names without caste markers during Kandhasamy Thirukovil’s Masi Brahmochavam 2026, rejecting administrative claims that donor preferences justify discriminatory publicity.
Court emphasized India’s constitutional journey demands annihilation of mental caste barriers where state-controlled Hindu institutions bear responsibility, modeling egalitarian conduct rather than amplifying hereditary divisions through public announcements.
The department argued that temples merely record donors’ self-identified caste affiliations, but Justice Chakravarthy mandated future compliance, ensuring festival communications propagate unity transcending birth-based hierarchies central to Sanatan philosophical universality.
Ruling aligns ritual observance with egalitarian messaging, where public celebrations become platforms dismantling artificial separations, reinforcing Tamil spiritual egalitarianism embedded within agamic traditions, prioritizing bhakti over birth.
Madras HC ordered HR&CE to eliminate caste names from temple invitations starting next festival, invoking Thiruvalluvar’s equality dictum, ensuring state religious events advance caste annihilation mandated by republican constitutional ethos.
