Pujas in Kerala Hindu Temples were handled by priests who were Brahmins by birth. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages thousands of temples in Kerala including the famous Sabarimala Temple , have started appointing Non-Brahmins as priests. Times of Indiareports In the last two months, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) filled up 50 out of the 100 posts for pujaris (priests) with non-Brahmins, who will soon start performing rituals in shrines assigned to them among the 2,000 temples under TDB. TDB had conducted a recruitment drive six months ago and interviewed hundreds of applicants belonging to all castes and they selected 199 pujaris, out of which 40% were non- Brahmins. "Even our ancient scriptures say a person becomes a Brahmin through his deeds and life-style than by birth,'' said additional chief secretary K Jayakumar.