A sense of uneasiness and silent resentment is discernible in Srirangam township in Tiruchirappalli district. Home to the historical Sriranganathar Temple, known as one of the Divya Desams (Divine Land), devotees of the presiding deity as well as local population are upset over the handing over of cows from the temple’s Goshala to slaughter houses.
According to Rangarajan Narasimhan, a Vedic scholar based in the township, the cows were offered to the Sriranganatha Temple by devotees to meet the daily pooja requirements of South India’s leading Vishnu Temple. “Only a fraction of the milk is being used for pooja rituals. Rest of the milk is given to the calves. This is as per the directives in Rig Veda,” Narasimhan told The Pioneer.
But officials of the Sriranganatha Temple have sold off more than 100 cows to slaughter houses, alleges Narasimhan whose daily life commences and concludes by worshipping in the temple. “The Vedas prescribe that cows reared in the Goshalas are not to be sold to anybody. The donors of these temples are expected to visit the temple regularly to monitor the well being of these cows. But what has happened is that the temple authorities are disposing infirm, old and dried up cows to slaughter houses which is against the directives mentioned in Vedas,” said Narasimhan.
Officials of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department of Tamil Nadu Government that administers the temple said that 60 cows were recently handed over to the poor archakas and priests to help them supplement their livelihood. “The cows were handed over as per the rules of the HR acs CE Department,” said a release issued by the joint commissioner of the temple.
Narasimhan and other devotees are questioning the veracity of the joint commissioner’s version. “These are cows that have stopped yielding milk. In what way the poor priests would get additional income from non-milking cows?” asks Narasimhan.
Parthasarathy, another devotee in the temple premises is of the view that a thorough probe should be ordered into the affair as the cows have been disposed of in violation of the Sasthras and Vedas.
Narasimhan says a government order issued in 2013 (which has been accessed by The Pioneer) says that cows from Goshalas in major temples could be donated to priests of other temples so that they could use the milk from these cows for rituals in their temples.