A lawyer loses licence to enter bar if found engaged in any other money making activity than legal practice. So stringent are rules for lawyers. The objective is to keep lawyers focused on law and such other knowledge and skills to give best service to clients.

Similarly, the temple servitors in India are expected to render service to the deities on an exclusive mode, meaning their sole job is to remain glued to the deities and earn whatever wage comes their way. The logic is simple: their concentration does not become diluted and the deities are not neglected in any manner.

In the ancient times when monarchs established temples, servitors from specific caste-communities were handpicked if they did not volunteer to offer services due to fear of ‘no-wage' or 'low-wage' systems in place. Big temples were popular from the day deities were installed and, therefore, devotees thronged in big numbers even in those days of primitive transport facilities.

The Jagannath Temple in Puri began big on every front. The founder monarchs organised devotee comfort by involving willing servitors to take property and extend hospitality to the poorest of the poor pilgrims from far and wide.

Even in those days, the Jagannath Temple had huge meals of countless food items offered to the deities everyday and part of it was given to the servitors by way of wages.

For centuries on end, the servitors were a sacrificing, volunteer lot without greed or guile to make money not due to them. Because of all these tough arrangements, the successors were not willing to become servitors. The monarch, therefore, recommended a hereditary servitor system so that at least one or two from the initially chosen clan could become a servitor ensuring temple rituals to continue without hindrance. Most servitors remained perpetually impoverished.

Now, everything has changed. The invariably famous Jagannath Temple has become a fashionable shrine mainly because of the novo rich servitors who are only “mushroom and nothing bigger or better” as Prabhupada of ISKCON preached and publicised the Jagannath culture across the world very successfully.

Televisions started airing the Car Festival and the servitors became visible, some of the smart ones, particularly the non-Brahmin ones capitalising visibility to attain star status. No one knows who or how the erroneous message of 'hereditary rights’ came to be discussed among the public.

The temple has a few robustly designed 'Records of events’ placed chronologically as well as of ‘rites and rituals'. But unfortunately, someone has erroneously titled the document in the fashion of ‘Record of Rights'. So, cunningly some vested interests have popularised the grossly wrong message that any male born into a servitor family becomes a servitor after the 21st day of existence.

By this make-believe culture, now the number of principal servitors including the Daita community’s has far exceeded the required critical number of approximately 95 per day.

There are nearly 119 categories of servitors, most of whom do not claim hereditary right at all. The Brahmin caste and Daita servitors only get their male children inducted as servitors. Interestingly, the Daita community is not even endogamous as the Brahmin class servitors are.

The number of the assortment of servitors is now nearing 20,000, which means utter chaos and cutthroat competition to flourish and show off. No wonder, on some lean days, there are more servitors than devotees in the temple premises. Hence, their unruly and uncivil behaviour and conduct, the latest PIL at the Supreme Court and the visit of an Amicus Curiae.

Very interestingly, Gopal Subramanium, the Amicus Curiae chanted such Jagannath hymns in chaste Sanskrit that the Shankaracharya, the Gajapati King and the talkative servitors were left gaping in utter awe and confusion put together.

The Puri District Judge had made twelve strong recommendations, which have been gladly accepted by the apex court. The temple administration and all others involved have agreed to all except the hereditary rights abolition suggestion.

The friend of the court, dressed like a pure priest, made it clear that the worthy members only shall be inducted into service on the basis of knowledge and skills, thereby reducing the number of servitors to a decent one so that managing them would be easy.

The left-out ones shall be packed off with a respectable compensation package. They can merrily go back to their hotels, shops and services with the government and corporate agencies.

The exceptionally learned Amicus Curiae made it amply clear that the clan shall not be ignored, but the mad number will be curtailed drastically. Each clan will have to nominate members with knowledge and skills to compete and pass tests to become servitors with fat salaries.

But double games shall not be tolerated as the attention of such servitors shall remain focussed on the private business and profit activities as is normal by human nature. The servitors will have to remain on job exclusively.

The way the friend of the court has talked and explained, there is no scope for confusion anymore.

He has also categorically made it clear that violation of any reformed rule may result in dismissal of servitors.

People who are revelling over the joyous development have started believing that Mahaprabhu, the Lord Jagannath, is taking care Himself as He knows by now that enough is enough and things need instant fixing!