By IANS
Kochi : Taking note of the falling standards of Hindu priests in the state, Kerala Devasom Minister G. Sudhakaran Thursday said the government was planning to set up a university where priests would be sent to refresh their knowledge in rituals and mantras.
“There have been many complaints that the quality of some of the temple staff, especially tantris, is appalling and their knowledge of temple rites and rituals is not adequate, so a tantri university is the need of the hour,” Sudhakaran told reporters here.
Sudhakaran, by virtue of being Devasom minister, has to look into the affairs of temples and the manner in which they are run.
He was speaking after appearing before the Justice K.S. Paripoornan Commission constituted to look into allegations of corruption in the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which runs the temples in south Kerala, including the famed Sabarimala temple.
“Once the university is ready we plan to send all temple staff at regular intervals for refresher training courses to brush up their knowledge. We will entrust officials of this new university to visit temples for inspection to see if the rituals are being done in a proper manner,” he said.
He told the commission that steps are being taken for setting up of the Great Sabarimala Pilgrim Trust, which would act as an advisory body for running the affairs of the Sabarimala temple.
“The trust would constitute eminent religious scholars and respected people from the society,” said Sudhakaran, who has been making efforts to root out corruption from the various temple boards in Kerala.
Sudhakaran has kicked up a controversy with his statement on opening up of the only-Hindu Guruvayoor Temple to devotees of all faiths and of opening the Sabarimala temple, where women in the menstrual age are banned entry, to women of all age groups.
His latest statement on sending temple priests to brush up their knowledge on rituals is certain to set tongues wagging.