Temple ceremonies can feature police guard of honour if costs are borne by temple: Home Department

KOCHI: The Home Department has directed to end the guard of honour provided by the police during special ceremonies at some prominent temples, including the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. If it is to be continued, the temples will have to bear the cost. The amount has not been decided. The practice, which has been going on since the royal era, is being discontinued.

A letter from Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department, Bishwanath Sinha, was delivered to the relevant stations from the police headquarters last week. The decision to provide a guard of honour for the procession at the Thiruvananthapuram Sree Varaham Sree Kunnandan Maha Ganapathi Temple under the Travancore Devaswom Board was taken at a meeting chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department on September 5. Deputy Commissioner of Police B.V. Vijay Bharatha Reddy had also informed the meeting that they too had decided not to provide a guard of honour.

There are about twenty temples in the Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi region, including the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, that have a guard of honour. This continued because the covenant signed by the royal families when they handed over the temples to the government stipulated that the customs followed should not be disturbed.

Major temples with guard of honour

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple (for festivals and Arat), Vellayani Devi Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Haripad Subrahmanya Temple, Tripunithura Poornathrayisa Temple, Ernakulam Shiva Temple, Palluruthy Azhakiyakavu Bhagavathy Temple, Thrissur Uurakam Ammatiruvadi Temple and Triprayar Sri Rama Temple.