Will more temples introduce ban on Cell Phones?
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The Othuvar, who has 10 festive days of presentation in a month at this temple, is very vocal about the negative impact of using cell phones “When a phone rings, not just the receiver of the call but the concentration of all others is also immediately affected in a negative way. Our mind goes away from God in those few seconds.”
In June 2016, I had written a story on the phone menace inside temples (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/06/temple-darshan-photo-video-menace.html) and how technological development and the emergence of smart phones and cameras were becoming a big distraction to devotees seeking peaceful darshan inside the temple.
Following a Public Interest Litigation that cited safety issues, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had in February this year directed the prohibition of carrying and using cell phones inside the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai. The ban, a first of its kind in temples in Tamil Nadu, comes at a time when the use of mobile phones inside the temple is on an upward trend. The implementation of the ban - though the primary purpose was from a safety and security point of view- has done wonders for the Meenakshi Amman temple and brought about a transformation that is almost unthinkable in modern times.
The Existing Scenario prior to the ban
Over the last few years, since the proliferation of camera phones, it had become common practice for devotees to take photographs at all places inside the temple including of the Deepaarathanai. And within a few minutes such photographs were circulated all over the world via social media platforms. The hands that rose to take such shots proved a great hindrance to devotees especially at important sacred moments.
The phone menace had reached such unbearable levels that devotees were seen talking even while going around the prakaram on a pradakshinam. Even sacred of occasions like Pradhosham were not spared and the loud talk on cell phones clearly disturbed peace darshan at the temple. Taking of Photographs and talking over the mobile always ended in confrontations with the more traditional devotees seeing this as an intrusion into their prayers.
Othuvar Somasundaram, who has been presenting the Thevaram Verses for the last seven years at the Meenkashi Amman temple, talks about the issues he had to endure patiently “Selfies near the Tank and the Kodi Maram had taken out the sanctity of the temple. In recent times, the electrical and electronic equipments with their flash lights had taken away the ancient ways of devotion. The nonstop Hello-Hello on the phone was quite a distraction to our presentation. Since it had become a way of life for most, we could not do anything about it.”
New System in place
With the imposition of the ban, anyone entering the Meenakshi Amman temple has to now deposit the phone in the vault provided at the counter outside. There are a total of 10000 such vaults at the different entry points to the temple. A Self Help Group has been assigned the task of servicing this new process. The temple has also gone in for insurance.
Othuvar Somasundaram is ecstatic at this unexpected ban, which did not look likely at the beginning of the year “The ban has dramatically changed the way of devotion as the (mobile) rings have ceased to exist. Selfies have gone away too. This is a ‘Great Positive’ for us. Devotees are now listening to our presentation (on the mike) in a peaceful manner sitting in different locations within the temple complex. Calmness has returned and one can sense overall happiness among the devotees. The ban is definitely a blessing in disguise for the devotees of the temple and for us, the Othuvars.”
More Temples to ban?
More Temples to ban?
Positive enquiries have been pouring in to temple JC Natarajan from other temples including many privately managed temples on the process and system adopted by the temple in relation to the ban.
The possibility of the mobile ringing at an inappropriate moment has been done away with completely at the Meenakshi Amman Temple. There is now a sense of sense of calm prevailing all around the temple. A surprising and an unexpected outcome has been the amount of time that parents are now spending in one on one conversation with their children explaining the rich history of the temple, something that was a rare sight in the years gone by.
The successful implementation in a high profile and thickly crowded temple such as the Meenakshi Amman temple will serve as precedence for possible replication in other crowded temples across the state. If the feedback in the last few months at this temple is anything to go by, then implementation of and extending the ban to other temples could lead to restoration of peaceful darshan in temples across the state.