India, Oct. 27 -- The Madras High Court has ruled that non-Hindus cannot enter Agamic temples in Tamil Nadu without affirming their reverence for the presiding deity and agreeing to follow the customs and practices of the temple.

A Division Bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and P Murugan held in its October 23 judgment, in the case Thangam Venkatesh v. State of Tamil Nadu, that non-Hindus who do not furnish such an undertaking cannot enter the temple. The bench said the undertaking must be in the format prescribed by the institution concerned.

The bench clarified that the ruling is confined to Agamic temples, meaning Hindu temples whose construction, rituals and worship follow the Agamas. It contrasted them with institutions associated w...