Social and religious outlook of the Hindu community has undergone a fundamental change as a result of the message of social equality

Ravikiran Shukre | Manikchand Pahade Law College, Aurangabad | 3rd March 2020 

Sastri Yagnyapurushadji and Ors. v. Muldas Brudardas Vaishya and Anr. [1966 SCR (3) 242]

Facts of the case: 

1. The appellants, who are the followers of the Swaminarayan sect and known at Satsangis, filed a representative suit: (i) for a declaration that the relevant provisions of the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act, 1947, as amended by Act 77 of 1948, did not apply to their temples, because, the religion of the Swaminarayan sect was distinct and different from Hindu religion and because, the relevant provisions of the Act, were ultra vires, 
2. And (ii) for an injunction restraining the 1st respondent and other non Satsangi Harijans from entering the Swaminarayan temple. The Trial Court decreed the suit.  Pending the 1st respondent’s appeal in the High Court, the Bombay Hindu Places of Public Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act, 1956, was passed, and since the 1947 Act gave place to the 1956 Act, it became necessary to consider whether the 1956 Act was intra vires. The High Court allowed the appeal and dismissed the suit holding that the followers of the Swaminarayan sect professed Hindu religion and that the Act of 1956 was constitutionally valid. Therefore, the present appeal is preferred before the Supreme Court. 

Judgment:

1. The development of Hindu religion and philosophy shows that from time to time saints and religious reformers attempted to remove from the Hindu thought and practices elements of corruption and superstition and that led to the formation of different sects. Buddha started Buddhism; Mahavir founded Jainism; Basava became the founder of Lingayat religion, Dnyaneshwar and Tuk-aram initiated the Varakari cult; Guru Nank inspired Sikhism; Dayananda founded Arya Samaj, and Chaitanya began Bhakti cult; and as a result of the teachings of Ramakrishna and Viveka-nanda, Hindu religion flowered into its most attractive, progressive and dynamic form. If we study the teachings of these saints and religious reformers, we would notice an amount of divergence in their respective views; but underneath that divergence, there is a kind of subtle indescribable unity which keeps them within the sweep of the broad and progressive Hindu religion.
2. There are some remarkable features of the teachings of these saints and religious reformers. All of them revolted against the dominance of rituals and the power of the priestly class with which it came to be associated; and all of them proclaimed their teachings not in Sanskrit which was the monopoly of the priestly class, but in the languages spoken by the ordinary mass of people in their respective regions.
3. The plea raised by the appellants that the Satsangis who follow the Swaminarayan sect form a separate and distinct community different from the Hindu community and their religion is a distinct and separate religion different from Hindu religion, is entirely inappropriate. Philosophically, Swaminarayan is a follower of Ramanuja, and the essence of his teachings is that every individual should follow the main Vedic injunctions of a good, pious and religious life and should attempt to attain salvation by the path of devotion to Lord Krishna.
4. Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence recognition of the fact that the path of Bhakti or devotion leads to Moksha, and insistence on devotion to Lord Krishna unambiguously and unequivocally proclaim that Swaminarayan was a Hindu saint who was determined to remove the corrupt practices which had crept into the lives of the preachers and followers of Vallabhacharya, and he wanted to restore the Hindu religion to its original glory and purity. 
5. The present suit began its career in 1948 and it was the result of the appellants’ apprehension that the proclaimed and publicised entry of the non-Satsangi Harijans would constitute a violent trespass on the religious tenets and beliefs of the Swaminarayan sect. The appellants must no doubt, have realised that if non-Satsangi Hindus including Harijans enter the temple quietly without making any public announcement in advance, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to bar their entry; but since respondent No. 1 publicly proclaimed that he and his followers would assert their right of entering the temples, the appellants thought occasion had arisen to bolt the doors of the temples against them; and so, they came to the Court in the present proceedings to ask for the Court’s command to prevent the entry of respondent No. 1 and his followers.
6. The Constitution came into force on the 26th January, 1950 and since then, the whole social and religious outlook of the Hindu community has undergone a fundamental change as a result of the message of social equality and justice proclaimed by the Indian Constitution.