Tirumala Hills only for Hindus: ordinance

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Hindustan Times, 9. June 2007

 

 

Tirumala Hills only for Hindus: ordinance

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Ashok Das, Hindustan Times

Hyderabad, June 08, 2007

 

Responding to the outcry from Hindu religious groups who have been protesting

over recent attempts to preach other faiths at the holy shrine of Lord

Venkateshwara at Tirumala, the Andhra Pradesh government has notified that the

seven hills of Tirumala would remain

a place of worship only for Hindus and has prohibited propagation of

other religions.

 

 

Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy told a news conference on

Fridayevening that his government has issued an ordinance on June 2

in this regard and the order comes into effect immediately. The

ordinance also recognised the jurisdiction of Lord Venkateshwara,

popularly known as " Lord of the Seven Hills " and declared the seven

hills surrounding the temple as a place of worship and thus banned

all political activities including conduct of local bodies polls.

 

 

" Against the backdrop of a long history of cherished cultural legacy

and sanctified Hindu tradition, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has

decided that the sanctity of the Seven hills and the Temple of Lord

Venkateswara needs to be preserved as a unique religious area where

the Hindu traditions shall be preserved and allowed to be nurtured as

they have continuously been over the last twomillennium. In order to

achieve this objective, it has been felt appropriate to accord to all

the Seven Hills and the Temple Town of Tirumala a special status as a

place of religious importance by giving it a special dispensation and

nomenclature, " Reddy said.

 

 

" Accordingly, the Tirumala Hills area comprising all the seven hills,

the holy teerthams and the central shrine of Lord Venkateswara will

henceforth be called Tirumala Divya Kshetram, " Reddy said and added

that this special dispensation would ensure that only spiritual and

religious activity went on in the seven hills area. No electionsor

political activity was permitted. The Tirumala Divya Kshetram shall

comprise all the seven hills called Seshadri, Garudadri, Venkatadri,

Narayanadri,Vrishabhadri, Vrishadri and Anjanadri right from the

foothills on all sides, the GO stated.

 

 

" It shall be the primary duty of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams

management to continue uninterruptedly with utmost devotion the

traditional rituals and practices and no other religion shall be

allowed to be propagated in Tirumala Divya Kshetram area by words,

either spoken or written or by signs or visible representation or by

distributing any printed material or other forms of religious

literature in terms of Section 2(1) of AP Propagation of Other

Religions in the Places of Worship or Prayer (Prohibition) Ordinance

2007promulgated on May 22, 2007, " the Government order pointed out.

 

 

The Executive Officer of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams have been

empowered under Section 114 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious

Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 to take action to prevent

begging, consumption of intoxicating liquor, drugs or cigarettes,

meat or meat products. Slaughter of animals or birds, gaming and

gambling are expressly prohibited under this Act. All these

provisions are intended to ensure that the entire Tirumala Hills area

continues to be a spiritual sanctuary that it has been all through, "

the GO added.

 

 

The ordinance also covers 19 other places of worship.

 

 

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