© 2001 VNN
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WORLD  Now, Non-hindus Too Can Have Darshan Of Puri Deity FROM REDIFF.COM INDIA, Sep 7 (VNN) — Imran Khan in Bhubaneswar There is good news for non-Hindus desiring to have a glimpse of the lord in Puri's famous Jagannath temple. Gopinath Mohanty, director of the Orissa tourism department, said the government has decided to build an elevated swing tower with a platform on the northern side of the world famous temple to enable non-Hindus to pay their respects to the lord without entering the temple. It will be the closest that non-Hindus will ever get to the lord. The temple is probably the only one in the country where the pandas (priests) are still opposed to the entry of non-Hindus inside its premises. In fact, the priests enjoy the Puri Shankaracharya's support on this matter. At the temple's main entrance, guarded by stone lions, a small marble plate proclaims - Only Hindus are allowed. About ten years back, the pandas prevented Dr Kamalesh Choudhry, a Pune-based friend of well-known Oriya writer Prativa Ray, from entering the temple. The pandas suspected Dr Choudhry of being a Christian. It was only after much pleading by Ray that she was allowed to enter the temple. Several such cases have been publicised in recent times. Members of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) are also not allowed to enter the temple. From Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi to former prime minister Indira Gandhi, the pandas have spared no one. Mahatma Gandhi was prevented from entering the temple as he was accompanied by Harijans while Acharya Vinobha Bhave faced the wrath of the pandas for being accompanied by Muslims. Indira Gandhi's fault was that she was married to a Parsi. It is said that Biswanath Das, a former prime minister of Orissa (before independence, the chief minister of the state was called prime minister), did not visit the temple protesting against the denial of admission to non-Hindus to the inner sanctum of the temple. According to temple sources, the first converted Hindu who entered the inner sanctum of the temple, in 1950, was Shri Shri Dayamata, an American woman who succeeded Shri Shri Pramananda Yogananda as head of the Yogananda Sangha Math. http://rediff.com/news/2001/aug/27puri.htm  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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