Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Notes on sources, abbreviations and transliteration
- Map
- 1 Introduction: studying religion-state relations
- 2 The temple connection in the nineteenth century
- 3 Governance: the necessity for order
- 4 Governance: trustees and the courts
- 5 Economy: the problem of controlling land
- 6 Economy: the temple's weakness as landlord
- 7 Religion: purifying and organizing Hinduism
- 8 Religion: controlling the priesthood
- 9 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Economy: the temple's weakness as landlord
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Notes on sources, abbreviations and transliteration
- Map
- 1 Introduction: studying religion-state relations
- 2 The temple connection in the nineteenth century
- 3 Governance: the necessity for order
- 4 Governance: trustees and the courts
- 5 Economy: the problem of controlling land
- 6 Economy: the temple's weakness as landlord
- 7 Religion: purifying and organizing Hinduism
- 8 Religion: controlling the priesthood
- 9 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
No simple statement can capture the complicated and extremely significant effects on temples of the land reforms of the past thirty years. The reforms have focused especially on eliminating as much as possible layered, intermediary ownership of the land, strengthening the rights of actual cultivators and tenants, regulating rents, and scaling down the power and wealth of large landowners. It is important to note at the outset that HRCE officials do not oppose the principles lying behind land reform; they agree that changes are necessary. They go along with the national Hindu Religious Endowments Commission of 1960–62 appointed by Prime Minister Nehru:
We are aware that consistently with the proclaimed and accepted objective of a socialistic pattern of society it is necessary to benefit the tenants and tillers of the soil and for this purpose the available land has to vest increasingly in the cultivating tenants.
For the HRCE the problems posed by land reform are not theoretical but practical: can a more equitable land tenure system be reconciled with the underlying structure of temple economy and finance? HRCE officials recognize that any reform inevitably means change and short-term dislocation, and they are quite willing to have the temples undergo periods of difficult adjustment. But HRCE officials also believe that it is their responsibility to ensure that temples are provided in the long run with alternative, equally stable sources of financial support. Therefore, while they generally have gone along with land reform, HRCE officials believe that they must oppose measures which do not provide temples with adequate compensation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religion under BureaucracyPolicy and Administration for Hindu Temples in South India, pp. 93 - 109Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1988