10 Mr. Mayne on the Administration of Native Law 



a geologist regards his fossils, whose sole interest to him con- 

 sists in their representing a departed antiquity. They re- 

 sisted every effort to modernise the Hindu, as Professor Owen 

 would reject the offer of an elephant for an ichthyosaurus. 

 Their crowning triumph was when they silenced the blasts of 

 the unorthodox tiruchunam. But this triumph proved fatal. 

 On that occasion the Court was divided, and Mr. Strange was 

 in the minority. He wrote an able and elaborate judgment, 

 denying that the Civil Courts had any jurisdiction in mat- 

 ters of ceremonial usage. He was over-ruled, but the ques- 

 tion arose again in 1861. The points in that case were des- 

 cribed as being, " at what time the plaintiffs may join the 

 defendants in the recitation of a prayer ; which of the plain- 

 tiffs is entitled to do so ; whether the tengala priest is entitled 

 to a blessing to be pronounced at the conclusion of the prayer ; 

 whether a hymn may be sung in his honour ; whether cer- 

 tain festivals called birt/hstar festivals are to be kept ; and 

 whether the images may be taken out in procession." On 

 that occasion the propriety of the tiruchunam decision was 

 canvassed, Mr. Strange's views were adopted, and the im- 

 portant rule was laid down, that mere matter of ceremonial 

 or religious usage cannot be made the subject of a Civil Suit- 

 This decision has been frequently ratified by the High Court 

 in the present year. Leading Gurus have sued in vain for 

 sacred cakes and blue fire, and a dispute whether the idols of 

 the Conjeveram pagoda should, or should not, be marked with 

 a triangle upon their noses, which had agitated Chingleput 

 for a generation, and taxed the acumen of successive Judges 

 and Magistrates, has at last been thrust forth, without a de- 

 cision. 



The ruling of 1861 was no doubt sound and sensible. 

 But it may be questioned, whether the grounds of the de- 

 cision were not reprehensibly narrow, and whether the Court 

 did not throw away an opportunity of inculcating a great 



