SC asks Guruvayur Devaswom to conduct Udayasthamana puja on Vrishchikam Ekadasi as per custom

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed that Udayasthamana puja on the Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple in Kerala should be carried out on the auspicious day of Vrishchikam Ekadasi in accordance with the temple’s age-old customs and traditions.

A Bench headed by Justice J.Ok. Maheshwari stated the first obligation of the Tantri was to safeguard and enhance the vitality of the deity by adhering to the traditions and never alter the date of the puja to swimsuit the comfort of the worshippers. Referring to the Sri Venkateswara Swami temple at Tirupati, the Bench stated traditions have been adopted with out fail regardless of the massive rush of worshippers there.

The apex court docket was listening to a particular depart petition filed in opposition to a Kerala High Court determination of December 7 final 12 months dismissing a plea in search of directives to the respondents, together with the Guruvayur Devaswom Managing Committee, represented by senior advocate C.A. Sundaram and M.L. Jishnu, to carry out the Udayasthamana puja on Vrishchikam Ekadasi.

The petitioner, P.C. Hary, represented by senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, Ok. Parameshwar and advocate A. Karthik, stated the puja was a sacred and integral a part of the temple’s ritualistic custom. The petitioner argued that as per the Panchangam for the 12 months 2025, the Guruvayur Vrishchikam Ekadasi falls on December 1, 2025, a Monday.

“Petitioners have now reliably learnt that, as soon as once more, the respondents have taken a call to not carry out the Udayasthamana puja on Vrishchikam Ekadasi, however on another date, specifically November 2, 2025 in full disregard of established spiritual customs,” the petitioners submitted.

They submitted that the alteration within the date was made regardless of the apex court docket having particularly noticed on December 11 final 12 months that “the chart of the day by day puja, as out there on the web site of Shri Guruvayurappan Temple, shall not be modified or deleted till the subsequent date of itemizing.”

“Until 2023, the Udayasthamana puja was invariably carried out on Vrishchikam Ekadasi day, and it is just over the last two years, 2024 and 2025, that the respondents have tried to change this well-established spiritual observe. Such arbitrary choices by the respondents strike on the very root of the normal practices of the temple, which have been noticed for a number of centuries. The Udayasthamana puja on Vrishchikam Ekadasi will not be merely symbolic however a sequence of almost 15-18 pujas which are carried out from dawn to sundown,” the petitioners submitted.