Recreating the Temple-centric economy!
A temple-centric economy means temples provided function of bank, law, medicine, school etc. in return for donations. We can recreate this template today. Lets see how.
I hear many people talk about the temple-centric economy of India. It misleads us to equate a temple-centric economy with the businesses thriving while supporting the religious practices within the temple. That could not be further from the truth.
Hindu temples were Indic Institutions that covered law, banking, schools, medical clinics, community centres and a place of worship that provided social support in times of distress. You can read more about it in this previous article.
The old temple-centric economy
The temple was a living entity equivalent to a family, with the deity being the head of the household. This temple would serve as the institutional base for the village. All the necessary institutions except administration and security were housed in this place.
Mandirs were the schools, universities and centres for advanced learning. They housed the experts, teachers and books and manuscripts. Thus they were also libraries.
Mandirs were also centres for professional practice in law, medicine etc. They housed legal experts, medical experts and other professionals. Contracts were signed and validated by professionals in the mandir, with the deity being the witness.
Mandir was also the money lender, bank and insurance provider. The locals financed the mandir through donations and fees for professional services. The result was that the Mandirs used to be wealthy. They deployed these funds as a banker or insurance providers to the community.
Those employed by the mandir were cared for life but did not build individual wealth. These employees were provided residences, food, clothing and all necessities free of cost. But all the wealth created belonged to the temple. The employment was for life. This structure allowed the professionals to be unbiased and dispassionate while being true to their expertise and dharma.
But Mandirs were not profit-seeking enterprises. Their dharma required them to use the wealth for social benefits. Therefore, Mandirs organised food for all. They provided a community kitchen to feed all the homeless and unfortunate. The local Mandirs organised and partly financed disaster relief activities. Mandirs from other areas, the Raja and others with means were encouraged to join. Some Mandirs also operated dharma-shalas (guest houses) where people could shelter for a few nights.
Thus the Mandirs were self-financed, non-profit, socially responsible centres for professional excellence in the practice of dharma that satisfied a unique institutional gap. This institutional gap also exists today in modern society.
But isn’t this being done already in Mathas and Temple Trusts?
We can look at certain examples that are already before us.
Large temple trusts like Tirupati, Satya Sai, etc., have already ventured into educational institutions and hospitals. They also run large social aid programs.
Large mathas also run social programs described above, including health and education programs. They also provide free/subsidised meals and shelter for the poor and needy, including animals too.
Ashrams also provide educational and healing services, sometimes at discounted prices.
So what is the difference between those and Temples?
While there is overlap between various functions, most of the Mathas and Temple Trusts are oriented towards social obligations. Indeed, it would be helpful if the Mathas and Temple Trusts were to get into professional services (some are). I believe Mathas and Temple Trusts should not shy away from starting banks and lending institutions.
Secondly, professional institutions need professional infrastructure. Most hospitals and health services attached to Mathas and Temple Trusts do have some of the best equipment and infrastructure. However, this same attitude needs to get into various other aspects of dharmic institutes of professional excellence. We need to make them a lot more efficient and equip them with the best infrastructure and make them strive for excellence in their respective fields.
Finally, the current model of Mathas and Temple Trust is somewhat stop-gap. It imposes dharmic objectives on non-dharmic organisation structures, particularly when it comes to running professional institutions like hospitals, etc. A dharmic organisation structure may mean the personal wealth of all trustees and employees will have to be subsumed into the temple wealth. Temples will be run like socialist systems, with the organisational hierarchy decided by merit. The closest model I can think of is the model used by US universities.
Temples must take up their real dharmic duty.
Temples can undertake these activities under current laws by drawing upon Company Law or Partnership Act etc.
Free Temples from government control: The Temple control by the government takes various forms, including forming managing committees with representatives of government and control through the Indian Trust Act and Charity Commissioner. All these controls have to go.
Income and earnings: All donations and fees earned by the temples should be the property of the temple, and the government should not be allowed to access those funds.
Tax and regulatory parity: Temples should have the same tax and benefits as any other religion. For far too long, we have restricted dharmic institutions and saddled them with unnecessary burdens, thus promoting other religions.
Temple management reform: We need to create alignment between dharmic objectives and dharmic organisation structures to attain those objectives.
Temple objectives to be determined by the society: The dharmic society should be able to influence the objectives of the temples.
Establish centres of professional excellence:
banking and financial services
legal services
medical and health services
Education and advanced learning Services
Dharmic education services
Establish centres for social excellence:
Dharmashala, i.e. temporary hostel for homeless free
Community Kitchen for providing free meals to hungry
Transparency and accountability: Temples should keep their books of accounts digitally and freely accessible online.
What will this achieve?
This will achieve many different things.
First, it will allow followers of dharma to have institutional community support that is deliberately denied till now. It will allow many dharmics and their enterprises to flourish. By itself, this is enough reason to empower the temples.
Second, it will create better recall in the mindspace. At a community level there is a battle of mindspace being fought between Islam (with loudspeakers and claiming public spaces) and Christianity (by cornering important properties across the country). In this space, Sanatan Dharma has been relegated to the corner.
Thirdly, it will bring about genuine innovation in society as dharmic structures allow for congruent incentive structure.
Fourth, it will open new avenues for identifying talented individuals and innovative enterprises at a more distributed level (at every place where there is a temple) than current economic system allows. This is applicable for all aspects of society - political talent, enterprenial talent, professional talent or dharmic talent.
Finally, it will reduce social support burden on the government as the temples will be able to direct and support people facing economic, social or familial hardships in a more rooted way than governmental institutions allow. This will allow for lesser government involvement.
It is doable.
We need to innovate on organisation design concepts. Better legal definition and simplification may help the process. We may need to evolve a basic constitution for temples and how to run them.
We must also underline the fact that we are not creating competition between mathas, temples and other dharmic institutions. However, while acting in accordance with their dharma, if they indeed end up as fair competitors, then so be it.
But overall it is doable. At the very least, we need to talk, debate and explore this in a meaningful way.
Notes and links:
Law of Mutts, Dharmasalas and Other Hindu Endowments