A Hindu devotee with his body pierced with skewers and walk through a road as he takes part in a religious procession during Aadi festival at elephant gate road, in Chennai. (Photo | EPS, R.Satish Babu) CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday rejected a plea to prevent people from breaking coconuts on the heads of devotees during a traditional festival held in a temple in a village in Tamil Nadu. The court instead observed that any individual or a group can stay out of such rituals if they wish. But the entire community or a religious denomination cannot be stopped from performing customary rituals or poojas. The writ petition was filed by Mahalakshmi Mummudiyar Kula Nala Sangam of 24 Mannai Telugu Chettiar Community, by its administrators L Subramanian and 25 others. The petitioners had sought a direction to the state government officials to prevent the temple priests from breaking coconuts on the heads of the devotees during the Aadi festival on August 3 at Sri Mahalakshmi Amman Temple in Mettu Mahadhanapuram village in Karur district. The petitioners argued that the practice causes serious head injuries to the devotees. They instead said the coconuts can be placed on the […]
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