The proclamation is one paragraph of operative text. Professing our deep conviction of the truth and validity of our religion, believing that it is based on divine guidance and on all comprehending toleration, and knowing that in its practice it has throughout the centuries adapted itself to the needs of changing times, the Maharaja declares that there should be no restriction placed on any Hindu by birth or religion on entering or worshipping at temples controlled by the state.
The exclusion it removed was not a matter of temple etiquette. In Travancore the barred communities were the numerical majority of Hindus, and the prohibition extended in places to the roads approaching a temple, so that a man of the wrong caste could not walk past the gate, let alone through it. Untouchability in Kerala had been enforced by distance rules that specified how many feet a person of each community had to keep from a Nambudiri brahmin.
The proclamation applied to temples under government control, which in Travancore meant a very large number, since the Devaswom administration held the major shrines. Privately controlled temples were not covered, and some remained closed. Its immediate implementation was rapid: the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple at the capital, the state deity's own shrine, was opened within days.