Is temple sanctity defiled by non-Hindus?

SANCTUM SANCTORUM: Before the court or intervenes, the Hindu community to do something about archaic temple laws.

        

Ads by Google

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Related Stories

• Kerala temple says sorry, not priest

• Guruvayur says sorry over purification

• Guruvayur priest bars non-Hindus

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

  

New Delhi: Union Minister Vyalar Ravi on Tuesday lashed out at the Guruvayur temple management for carrying out purification rituals after his son Ravi Krishna's visited the Sri Krishna Temple.

Ravi said his family is contemplating taking legal action against the temple authorities over the shocking incident.

The temple priests performed the purification ritual as Ravi Krishna's mother Mercy comes from a Christian family. Ravi Krishna had gone to the temple for his son's first-feeding ceremony. This was, in fact, the second time that a face-off has erupted between the Ravi family and the temple authorities.

The big question that was discussed on the CNN-IBN show Face The Nation was: Is the sanctity of Hindu temples defiled by the visit of the non-Hindus?

On the panel to discuss the issue were Vyalar Ravi’s son Ravi Krishna, Sabarimala temple Thantri’s grandson, Rahul Easwar and Delhi University sociologist, Radhika Chopra.

Were priests just following rules?

Radhika Chopra was of the opinion that there are two aspects to the question and two aspects to the event. The fact that the minister and his son were actually allowed and permitted into the temple and they performed the ceremony for the baby only proved that they were a part of the temple.

The temple actually permitted them to do something that many temples prohibit a host of other people only on the basis of whether they are ‘faith followers’ or not.

“We know that Ravi Krishna's mother is a Christian so in that counting we have to recognise that every religion is exclusionary,” she said.

Ravi Krishna on the other hand completely disagreed with the very act of the priests purifying the temple because his mother, who is a Christian, was not even present in the temple. The people who were present were all born Hindus and fully subscribed to the customs of being Hindus, according to him.

But then the question arises: why let Ravi Krishna perform the ceremony in the first place if the temple had to be purified later?

“Understanding the basis of the purification ceremony, the Thantri’s justification was that they had conducted a purification when I entered the temple for the first time. But what he had overlooked was that the previous Thantri had recognised that the purifications conducted then was on the basis of erroneous information that I am a Christian. So to conduct the same precedent, it only shows that they are blind to recognising their own mistakes,” said Ravi Krishna.