Tradition, culture not fixed entities, says judge

Madurai: The final hearing on the appeals against a dress code for entering temples administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department in Tamil Nadu witnessed interesting arguments and insightful observations by Justice V. Ramasubramanian on Monday. “Tradition and culture keep changing over time and one generation cannot follow the practices observed by the previous generation,” the judge said on the day he witnessed a battery of lawyers appearing in support of the dress code listed out by judge S. Vaidyanathan in an order passed on November 15, 2015. The TN government and two women’s organisations had filed appeals against the imposition of a dress code when these temples are already implementing various restrictions including dress codes as per the customary and traditional practices following the Tamil Nadu Temple Entry Authorisation Act, 1947. Arguing against the dress code before the division bench comprising Justices Ramasubrmanian and Ravichandranbabu, advocate U. Nirmala Rani said that court judgments and legislation have helped change traditional and cultural practices associated with temples and cited the examples of the abolition of sati, devadasi system and widow remarriage. Earlier when a lawyer argued in favour of the dress code stressing on preserving tradition, Justice Ramasubramanian asked, “Why didn’t he sport a tuft as his father would have had?” When the advocate tried to defend stating it doesn’t hurt anybody, the judge said that some people are trying to defend cultural practices which are convenient to them and criticise those practices which they don’t like.