Do Gods and Goddesses too need blessings? It certainly seems so going by the recent trend. A host of temples and religious bodies from Tamil Nadu are busy knocking the doors of the International Standard Organisation (ISO) ? an agency which provides certificates based on international quality benchmarks for various businesses ? to get its stamp of approval for their ?units?.
At the behest of the state government?s Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR&CE) department, renowned temples in the state have started queuing up for obtaining the quality certification body?s stamp of approval.
For starters, three well known temples in Chennai ? the centuries-old Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane and Dhandayudhapani Temple in Vadapalani ? had sought and received ISO 9001:2008 certification. The three city temples had included their fixed assets, accounts and ?strict adherence to rituals? for scrutiny by the ISO officials. Interestingly, ISO 9001:2008 is a worldclass quality management system for companies and organisations that have an objective of improving their customer satisfaction while maximising their profits.
According to sources, this is just the beginning. There is likely to be a fiat soon asking more temples to get the certification. Candidates in waiting are the world-famous Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai and Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, officials said.
?The HR&CE department in Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in administration and management of temples. The department had issued a directive to the temple management to apply for the certification and we did so a year or so ago,? said a Kapaleeshwarar Temple official. ?Subsequently, the ISO officials made three-four visits and gave the certification for administration and management after the temple fulfilled all stipulated norms. The award is one more feather in our crown. It drives home the point that the management is transparent and would clear out any doubts in the minds of devotees?.
Now, with contribution from two donors, the temple is planning to make the premises of main residing deity Shiva and Amman sannadhis completely airconditioned. ?The temple is completely secure with proper systems in place. We have web cameras installed at various locations and there is also a vigilance checkpost right outside the temple premises,? the official added.
?The might of market capitalism seems to be all pervasive. The ?invisible hands? of the markets has made it imperative for even gods to get branded,? says Prof Raman Mahadevan, a well-known historian and former professor for economic history at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvanathapuram, and a visiting faculty at Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. ?The unseen side is this could breed a new kind of casteism among temples with different grades of certification. The ones with a 2000 stamp may be seen as inferior to the ones with 2002 or 2008 certification,? he pointed out.