© 1999 VNN
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WORLD May 21, 1999 VNN3921 Comment on this story Deities In Indian Law BY RAKESH BHATNAGAR INDIA, May 21 (VNN) — God, man equal in the eyes of property law NEW DELHI: Does a Hindu deity having a visible image, which resides in its ''abode'' and was consecrated through proper religious ceremonies enjoy legal status to own land and properties? Yes, says the Supreme Court. ''Hindu law recognises a Hindu idol as a juridical (legal) subject which can hold property by reason of the Hindu shastras following the status of a legal person in the same way as that of a natural person,'' the court held while deciding that the idols of ''Ram Janki Ji'' and ''Thakur Raja'', consecrated in two separate temples in Bihar, were entitled to enjoy exemption under the state's land ceiling law. The judgment, based on shastras, various pronouncements and writings on the subject, also deals with the possibility of a ''fake'' deity trying to enjoy the benefit of law. The judgment by a Bench comprising Justice M. Jagannadha Rao and Justice Umesh C. Banerjee is a fallout of the appeals filed by the deities through their manager (shebait) who controls their abode. Referring to the high court ruling that one deity was fake, the court said: ''By no stretch of the imagination can the deity be termed fake.'' The concept of fake form appeared to a ''misreading of the provisions of Hindu law texts'', the judges said. ''There cannot be any fake deity: the whole concept of Hindu law seems to have been misplaced by the high court.'' The court also explained the rituals of consecration. The image is first carried to snan mandap (bathing place), the founder then utters the sankalp mantra, the image is then bathed with panchamrit (comprising holy water, ghee, curd, honey and rose water). It is then taken for oblation to the sacred fire by which pran pratishta takes place and the eternal spirit is infused. Later, the image is taken to the temple and formally dedicated to the deity. ''A simple piece of wood or stone may become the image or idol and divinity is attributed to it. It is formless, shapeless, but it is the human concept of a particular divine existence which gives it shape, size and colour,'' the judges added. ''It is not a particular image which is a juridical person but it is a particular bent of mind which consecrates the image,'' the judges said. The court also considered whether one god can be superior to the other. Whichever god the devotee might choose for worship, set up and consecrate with that object, the image represents the ''Supreme God'' and none else, the court said. Comment on this story | Contact VNN about this story | Send this story to a friend
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