AREN’T OUR TEMPLES MEANT TO BE SECULAR???

‘ENTRY FOR HINDUS ONLY,’ reads a board at the main gate of the famous Jagannath Temple at
Puri. ‘ONLY HINDUS ARE PERMITTED INSIDE. NO OTHER RELIGION IS ACCEPTED WITHIN,’ reads another.
I was quite surprised and shocked when I saw such boards at the main entrance of such prestigious
temple. A couple of weeks ago, one of the prominent English dailies was shown depicting the picture of
a foreign devotee, Christian by religion, who had been refused to be admitted into the premises just
because he’s not a Hindu. There was a page-long narrative about the devotee and his devotion for
Krishna and the way he’d become a disciple of Krishna Consciousness as a member of ISKCON,
Bhubaneswar. He’s been waiting for 20 long years to have a glimpse of the ‘Lord’. When I visited Puri for
the first time, I was pained to see those notice boards and had enquired one of the priests there for the
reason. The explanation he offered me sounded irrelevant and completely nonsensical.
Why should such restrictions be imposed at the place of pilgrimage? Have the world-famous
Mecca-Madina ever imposed any such restrictions? Has the Jama Masjid in Hyderabad ever laid down
such rigid communal rules? Has the Golden Temple of Amritsar, which is a world-famous and the most-
visited Gurudwara ever placed such notices restricting the entry only to the Sikhs? Has anyone ever seen
or heard of any Church or the Jain or the Buddhist Monasteries which are religion or caste-specific? But
temple is the only place where such differences and distinctions are clearly visible. Leave alone the
restrictions put forth for other religions, in many cases the distinctions are caste-based as well even if all
belonged to the Hinduism. The notices pointing to the restrictions like ‘Untouchables not allowed
beyond this point’, ‘Ladies not allowed inside’, ‘So and So caste people are not allowed to touch the
idol’, etc. are not very uncommon in most of the Indian temples. Barring a very few ones like the Chilkur
temple which provides entry to all people alike, most of them are struggling with this evil.
Aren’t our temples meant to be secular? At some point in the past, there might have been some
incidents or circumstances which might have forced the then rulers or temple administration to impose
such regulations. But they’re anachronous to the present society. With the international boundaries
diminishing so rapidly in this era of globalization, such trivial issues should be re-modelled accordingly.
The sadder part of the story is that no one today knows the reason behind the rule and yet they’ve
become superstitions, which the temple administrations claim to be their traditions. No true religion or
tradition ever forces communalism and encourages inequality of people. It is the temple administrations
which put a lot of energy and finance into strict following and observation of such irrelevant rules with
some selfish motives behind them. The local and national politicians also use the religious sentiments of
the general public to strengthen their vote bank.
No religion, to my knowledge, preaches such distinctions or evils. Hinduism has never prompted
to disallow the Muslims, Christians, Jews, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists,…whoever it may be, to worship their
gods or to follow their tradition. Temples are the holy institutions which are supposed to cultivate
virtues in the manhood and create harmony within the society by bridging the differences into a
common culture with their spiritual touch. When such temples, which are supposed to strengthen the
society by inculcating a sense of brotherhood within the society through its various fairs and festivals,
themselves start imposing such distinctions, where is one to go? When they instill venom of communal
feelings into the innocent minds, do they really deserve their importance? Is not people losing faith in
one’s religion and even God justifiable when such immoralities are encountered?
Many people may conveniently differ or even criticize me in my way of putting things. It may
hurt sentiments of many believers as well. But the fact is a fact. And the truth is that this is an evil. And
such evil should be uprooted from its base for the common good. A devotee must be permitted into the
temples, or any other religious institutions for that matter, taking his devotion into account and not his
religion or caste. Such trivial problems, unless looked into with seriousness, a developed India is a
distant dreams for generations to come.