("IANS," March 2, 2007)
Bhubaneswar, India - Social activists in Orissa
have criticised the destroying food worth Rs.1
million meant as offering at the Jagannath temple
Friday because a foreigner had entered it --
an act seen as defiling the premises.
'It is unfortunate that in the name of religion
a few orthodox people are damaging Hinduism
by these kinds of act,' said Jagdish Pradhan
a leading social activist and president of Sahabhagi
Bikash Abhyan, a NGO.
Speaking to IANS, he said: 'It is unfortunate
that we are not allowing foreigners to enter
the temple. It is time we brought in more and
more people from other religions into our fold.'
'It is a wrong tradition and we must change
it,' Dalit leader and state president of the
Ambedkar Lohia Biahcar Mancha Sangram Mallik
told IANS. 'I was shocked to hear about the
way food was destroyed when people are dying
due to starvation in our own state. The priests
have no right to do this.'
Priests at the Jagannath Temple in Puri Friday
destroyed the food and performed purification
rituals after Paul Rodgier, a 55-year-old American
Christian, entered the temple Thursday afternoon.
The priests also asked him for a fine of Rs.
209 when he pleaded that he was not aware of
restrictions on the entry of foreigners into
the temple.
Rodgier had reportedly come to the government-run
National Thermal Power Corp in Angul district
on official work a few days ago.
As part of traditional practice, a mud pit
was dug inside the premises of the temple and
the holy offering was thrown into it, temple
official Laxmidhar Pujapanda told IANS. 'The
kitchen area also washed thoroughly,' he said.
Foreigners are not allowed to enter leading
Hindu temples in Orissa, including the Jagannath
temple at Puri and the Lingaraj temple here.
An American Christian woman, Pamela K. Fleig,
who converted to Hinduism after marrying an
Indian from Uttar Pradesh resident, was denied
entry into the 11th century Lingaraj temple
in Bhubaneswar in 2005.
Thailand's Crown Princess Sirindhorn was also
not given permission to visit the Jagannath
temple in the same year as she was a foreigner
and Buddhist.
Even late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi - a
born Hindu - was not allowed to enter the temple
when she was in power because she had married
a Parsi.
