http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/TOIonline/India/Temples_of_unmodern_India/articleshow/2096083.cms
Temples of unmodern India 4 Jun, 2007 l 0132 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK VARANASI: The city of lights offers strange contrasts: On the one hand, there is the tradition of someone like late Ustad Bismillah Khan doing riyaaz at Baalaji temple and performing at Sankat Mochan. On the other there was this instance of pop singer Parwati Khan who had to sneak into Kashi Vishwanath temple icognito after Shiv Sena raised a shindig when her visit was publicly announced. A marble plaque in front of Kashi Vishwanath declares: "Those who do not have faith in Arya dharma are strictly prohibited from entering the temple precincts." In reality, however, there is no restriction on devotees of any caste or creed, says Radhey Shyam Pathak, the chief executive officer of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust, adding that even foreigners visit temples for their grandeur or architecture because "sometimes we even find foreign currencies in temple donation boxes." Endorsing his views, former mahant of Kashi Vishwanath, Kulpati Tiwari, says it isn't possible or logical to deny entry to people on the basis of their caste or religion. But, often people themselves follow tradition. BHUBANESWAR: The recent incident in Keredagada, Kendrapara, where Dalits broke a 300-year ban on their entry into a local temple (they could get in only under police protection), highlights a peculiar problem: while temples in hinterland observe caste-bar rituals, those in Puri and Bhubaneswar don't. However, in the both the cities, non-Hindus are barred from entering temples, whether it is the Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar or the Jagannath temple in Puri. Chairman, Puri Jagannath temple management committee, Gajapati Dibyasingha, says the tradition will continue. "But we are ready for a debate. Debates yield consensus and then only changes take place," he said. GUWAHATI: Kamakhya does not place any restriction on non-Hindus entering the temple. But this is because non-Hindus cannot be identified. Senior official of the Kamakhya Debuttor Board says many non-Hindu dignitaries being sensitive to the religious sentiment, prefer to worship from outside. "Generally devotees other than Hindus dont come to Kamakhya for worshiping. We cannot obstruct if a non-Hindu hides his/her identity. We cannot make them reveal the identity unless it is externally telltale. " CHENNAI: "If God is our father, why should we be prevented from entering his temple?" asks Neelavendan, general secretary of Adi Tamilar Peravai (ATP), a forum fighting for Dalit rights. His indignation is understandable. For, a section of Dalits still can't enter temples managed by Hindu religious & charitable endowments (HRCE) department and the backward classes (BC). ATP has identified 48 temples where Dalits are barred entry. "Earlier, we couldn't enter a temple where Brahmins worshipped. Now, BC members (Kounder, Naidu, Vanniyar, Kallar, Thevar, and certain sections of Pillai) disallow us in temples under their control," says Vendan. A Dalit HRCE member when asked whether he'd taken any of his relatives into the temple, said, "I'm yet to muster the courage for that." DWARKA: Gujarat's Dwarka dham, one of the four pilgrimages central to Hinduism, is open to all. There is no discrimination on the basis of one's religion: Be they Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Dalit. "A person who comes to worship has faith in his heart and hence there should not be any restriction," says Swami Sadanand Brahmachari of Dwarka Mutt, mutt-adhish and the second-in-command to the Shankaracharya. "The only place out-of-bounds is the sanctum sanctorum where just the Shankaracharya and the priests are allowed. Even the three Shankaracharyas of the other mutts do not have access to the sanctum sanctorum," says Sadanand Brahmachari. "Brahmin, Dalit, Christian or Muslim, all are treated equally," says Brahmachari. No one is stopped from performing puja. Anyone can make his offering at the 'charan paduka' like the Hindus," he says. With inputs from Himanshu Kaushik, T S Sreenivasa Raghavan, Naresh Mitra, Rajaram Satapathy, Manjari Chaturvedi and Binay Singh
