The word -'devaswom' means belonging to Deva or the deity and generally it denotes temple. The ownership of temples in Kerala is discussed in detail in Chapter 1 and they are govemed by statutory bodies like Tnivancore Devaswom Board, Cochin Devaswom Board, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endownment Department and Guruvayur Devaswom, besides innumerable temples belonging to private trusts, institutions and individuals. An attempt was made to study the financial position of temples, but had to be given up due to non-availability of full particulars in a uniform manner and non-co-operation from private bodies to part with any information on income and expenditure due to obvious reasons. In statutory bodies the greatest difficulty was that detailed accounts of maraamath (construction) activities (like renovation, repair etc.) are available with the different maraamath sections which have number of temples under them and no systematic or separate accounting is kept for each temple over a period. In the case of private temples they have their own selfish interests and they fear the Government will unnecessarily intervene and take over their temples, in one pretext or the other, if these temples are found profitable ones. However the general pattern of income and expenditure of temples can be summarized as follows.
INCOME
Vazhipaats (inclusive of collections from counters, through money order/Cheque/DD/ IPO etc.)
Hunti (Hundi) collections inclusive of currency notes, coins, foreign currency, gold and silver articles
Income from properties
Income by kind during festivals and as vazhipaats.
Grants from Government
Donations from institutions and individuals
Interest from fixed deposits/savings bank
Other miscellaneous items
EXPENDITURE
(a)
Obligatory items of expenditure
Nithya - nidaanam (expenditure on daily routine rites) and adequate funds for pathivs as per current market-rates.
Special rites and expiatory rites
Salary of staff (including administrators and controlling agencies)
Benefits to staff like contribution to Provident Fund etc.
Keeping temples in good condition ie, proper maintenanace to structures and other appurtenances thereto with due importance to traditional architecture.
Grants to other smaller temples, for their proper maintenance and ensuring daily pooja.
Payments to surplus fund
Repayment of loans
Publication of religious texts, pamphlet on temple etc.
Establishing training institutes for priests as well as for artists on musical and percussion instruments
Annadaana or feeding of the poor and the needy
(b) Non-obligatory items of expenditure
Setting up of Schools, Colleges, Sadyaalayas, Kalyaana-mandapas etc.
Running orphanages, adult education centres, training institutes, commercial centres etc.
Diversion of funds by the management to institutions or individuals not not covered under obligatory items.
Diversion of temple funds for launching new schemes which may desecrate temple lands, tank etc
Building of golden dwaja without public contribution
All other expenses which are not intended.to increase the structural, religious and ritualistic aspects relating to temples.
various Commissions were appointed by the State Government as well as the High court of Kerala to study and review the working of Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards. All these reports indicate certain important facts and recommendations that are given below.
The Boards have become politicized institutions with deep roots, even changing the character and serenity of temples. Therefore eminent persons of known integrity and well-versed in thaantric and other related aspects and who are held in high esteem should be nominated as members and administrators of Statutory bodies.
The Devaswom Boards are not functioning strictly in accordance with the provision of Travancore or Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act 1950.
The Boards must give more weightage to obligatory functions than to non-obligatory projects.
The Boards should change their character as functional boards and they should deal only with important matters and function as an appellant body in matters of administration and should not indulge in day-to-day matters.
Strict accountablility for receipts and expenditure should be evolved. (The role now held by the High Court of Kerala in safe-guarding the interests of devotees and ensuring spiritualistic activities is commendable in this regard).
The organizational set-up has to be reviewed and new systems based on sanctity and serenity have to be evolved.
Steps should be taken to'revive or to start centres of thaanthric and Sanskrit studies which are essential for preserving our rich cultural heritage.
The salary structure and other service conditions of the temple staff particularly priests, kazhakakkars and other staff are to be revised besides providing a reasonable retaining fee to Thanthris.
Trade-union activities in temples should be barred. Instead staff councils may be constituted, consisting of represenatives from each category of staff.
A uniform act applicable to all temples in Keral~ may be framed for incorporating the above suggestions, particularly for making these institutions free from political appointments and political interference. The tole of Government may be restricted.
Though the fmandal positions were not fumished by the temple authorities, the general impression is that most of the temples in Malabar area are in a pitiable condition except very few. The condition of temples falling under the former Cochin state is slightly better as compared to thos.e in Malabar area. As the Rulers of Travancore had shown keen interest in temple affairs, the general condition of temples in the erstwhile Travancore state is better except for a few. The modem trend of giving more importance to non-obligatory functions and lesser importance to temple rites has affected the functioning of temples very much. It is also highly imperative to divert the funds of rich temples for the benefit of obligatory functions of smaller temples Similarly it is essential to build up a set of dedicated Thanthris, well-versed in thaanthric literature and also trained saanthikkars. Any expenditure incurred on this will not be a waste but may tend to increase the vitality of the deity besides helping the pooja system, which may fmally lead to the mental emancipation of devotees. It is again found highly beneficial if some in-service training programme is conducted for the temple administrators so that they are well-informed about the various aspects of temple administration. Above all the essential thing to be done is to free temples from all types of political interferenes so that they can function smoothly like other places of worship of other religions in the State.
