Famous Indian singer Yesudas, a Christian, was permitted by the temple administration to visit Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple on the Vijaya Dashami. This set an example of inter-religious harmony. It is so heartening to know that between 20 and 25 non-Hindus visit the temple every month by submitting affidavits that they believe in Hinduism. That is the beauty of the ‘Sanatana’ faith. The first non-Hindu woman to perform the Chakraptha Pooja at the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple that starts in the morning and goes on till 2 pm culminating in a holy feast for Brahmins, is Congress leader Simi Rosebel, who had visited the temple more than a decade ago. She recently revisited the shrine. In January this year, Russian pop singer Sataney Setgalievna Kazanova had visited the temple. She was born in a Muslim family but recites Vedic hymns with amazing skills. She had expressed her wish to Modi during the latter's visit to Russia that she wants to build a Hindu temple in Russia. She had stunned Modi by rendering the ‘Ganesha Vandana' flawlessly. Clad in a traditional Kerala sari, Kazanova visited the Lord at the temple in January. Among the overseas non-Hindu entrants to the temple, the majority were Russians. Some were from the US and Germany too. Not surprisingly, most of the non-Hindu visitors from abroad are interested purely in spiritualism and many among them practise yoga and the Hindu way of life. In last July, US resident Roy Washington visited the temple after submitting an affidavit that he believes in Hinduism along with an endorsement document from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
In August this year, two Russian women visited the temple after submitting a statement of belief in Hindu faith and documents citing their allegiance to the ISKCON. In August this year, a woman from Germany, who has been pursuing research in yoga and spirituality, visited the temple and indicated that her visit was spiritually rewarding. Temple officials still consider the 1936 entry proclamation, an epoch-making event during the reign of Travancore Maharaja Sree Chithira Thirunal Rama Varma as a guiding document along clear as to who be granted permission to offer prayers at the great temple. The proclamation made it clear that any person who believes in Hindu faith can be permitted to enter, temple officials said. A simple affidavit would be enough. That’s something to do with the simple belief that the desirous person is truthful before the Almighty.
Semitic religions want their followers to accept only their god and discard any other. Any violation on that score would turn one non-Christian or non-Muslim. But at most Hindu temples, the rules are so people-friendly and universal in nature! Any human creature, no matter from whichever faith, is accepted as the child of universal god. Anyone who pays a single visit to a Hindu temple is at once considered a true Hindu. That very principle makes Hinduism so dear to all as it strongly believes in equality of all before the one and only god, condemns community-linked violence of any kind and promotes peaceful coexistence among all humanity. Thus, Yesudas is a Hindu for the pure Hindus.
The world knows that all human beings irrespective of their faith can visit the Tirupati Balaji temple. One is only required to sign a statement of belief in Lord Balaji if one is not a born Hindu.
While the issue of religious sanctions is brought up, knowledgeable people talk of the story of Bibi Nancharamma who was the daughter of Malik Kafar (Aaladdin Khilji’s general), who accompanied her father during his conquest of South India and soon became a devotee of Lord Venkateswara. Even after going back to Delhi, she could not be diverted. Finally, she reached Tirumala; and Balaji took her as his consort. It is very warming to know that Muslims throng the temple and worship Venkateswara in Kadapa on the Telugu New Year’s day. Kadapa is considered the threshold of Venkateswara’s residence.
What many in India do not seem to know is a most magnificent fact: A rare Hindu-Muslim harmony in Odisha can be witnessed at a place called Kaipadar, 40 km from Bhubaneswar, where the shrine of a Pir (spiritual guide) attracts people of all religions from far and wide. It is the most famous Pir shrine in Odisha. There the ‘Prasad’ maker must be a Hindu, never a Muslim. Kaipadar is a village of about 5,000 inhabitants, out of which 1,000 are Muslims. The Pir’s shrine is a rather elaborate structure with a large compound adjoining a mosque. As one enters the gate to the courtyard, a flower seller called ‘Mali’ sells his goods on the right and a sweet seller called ‘Gudia’ does deal in food-offer items on the left. The Mali’s name is Mahapatra and the Gudia’s name is Sahu, both Hindus. The Khadim priest sits by a huge mound covered with cloth and garlands. He prays in Urdu and sprinkles rose water on the mound before blessing devotees and brushes them with a bunch of peacock feathers.
However, the latest Supreme Court verdict allowing all women inside the Sabarimala temple hitherto out of bound for the females between the age of ten and fifty since quite some ages. Lord Ayyappa is a celibate god. Hence the ban on grown or menstruating females lest they should disturb His mind. Despite the court order, Hindus of Kerala, including women, have risen in revolt against the violation of the age-old tradition. The only dissenting judge Justice Indu Malhotra’s points of view appear to be sound, wherein she says the matter is absolutely religious in nature and cannot be ignored or violated. The consenting minds, all males, making open the temple to all females irrespective of age considered the matter as a secular issue and the right to equality cannot be taken away. They considered the ban on women discriminatory and, so, unconstitutional. The standoff is gaining in intensity by the day and the Government has failed to implement the court order. All the same, Union Minister Smriti Irani, in her forties, made a statement which is not only plain stupid but also shows her in extreme poor light due to lack of common sense. In her flamboyant, overconfident style, she said it is pure common sense to know that no woman during her monthly period can even visit a friend as the sanitary pad is soaked with blood. She forgot the commonest sense that the period is only across three to five days. But madam Irani believes all women between ten and fifty keep menstruating day in and day out. The commonest sense among the masses of any clime, creed or colour, particularly the Hindu community, is to keep off many religious rituals and acts during the menstrual cycle. She has to also prove that she does not visit friends, attend the Parliament or discharges her ministerial duties during the nature-driven circumstance. Besides, the age range is no guarantee that the females are not menstruating. There is ample evidence of girls younger than ten and women above fifty menstruating. The youngest mother on record is a Peruvian who delivered a baby at 6. There are countless females having period until 55 or later.
There is every chance that the review of the Sabarimala verdict being upheld as per Article 25, Subsection 2 B of the Constitution. There is also some chance of having it reversed as religious sentiments are fiercely strong and implementing the order is very difficult.
*Lastly, the Puri Jagannath shrine with a huge number of stubborn and unruly servitors has become a model temple already. Many obsolete and archaic traditions and practices have been scrapped effectively and normalcy has been restored after an initial agitation. The only beauty lacking at this great temple is due to the ban on unorthodox Hindus. Who framed this rule and when is not known. Further, it is so enormously tough to define an orthodox Hindu in today’s world.
All the same, the Kaipadar Pir shrine can most certainly guide the so-called ‘orthodox’ Hindus to sanity and reason.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)