A video on social media of a temple priest in the Banpur area in Khordha district blessing staffs of a vehicle by putting his feet on their heads on the Dussehra day has triggered a controversy.
The video shows staff of vehicles sitting in a queue before their decorated vehicle and receiving foot touch of the priest one by one amid hymns of mantras. After it went viral, many people supported the priest’s act as a Hindu tradition while several others opposed it asunacceptable.
The Jagannath Temple’s Muktimandap stated that it is surely pioustradition having good intents but it can’t be imposed on anybody. And it is also a duty and right of Brahmins to offer blessings to all creatures in the universe to live well and in peace, said the Muktimandap president.
After Puja of the vehicle was over, the priest, identified as Ramchandra Samantaray, started blessing all the staffs with flowers on their head amid chanting of Sanskrit verses. During the blessing, the staffs sitting in line bent their heads before the priest and touched his feet. Even the priest was found holding his feet on the heads of staffs one after another.
