In a year that has already seen a rise in ancient spiritual and native cultural traditions being compromised either to purportedly boost ‘religious tourism’ or for varied other reasons, it is a prominent national television Hindi news channel in the latest case which has elicited criticism especially from the religious fraternity and natives for announcing a date purportedly on which the Kapat (portals) of the Badrinath temple will be reopened to the public next year.
The Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) is now talking of sending a letter to the editor of the television news channel seeking that a corrigendum be issued in the matter. Traditionally, the date of closure of the Badrinath temple to the public is ritually arrived at on the auspicious occasion of Vijaya Dashami whereas the date of reopening of the shrine to the public is reached at and announced on the occasion of Vasant Panchami in a ceremonial manner which also involves deliberation and astrological calculations based on the traditional Hindu almanac Panchangam.
It will be recalled that a few days ago on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami on October 11, traditional ceremony was held after which November 16 was declared to be the date on which the portals of Badrinath temple would be closed to the public for the six months of winter.
However, on the same day a national television news channel went ahead and announced the purported date falling ian the month if April next year as the day for reopening of the temple to the public.
Apart from members of the BKTC, the priestly-religious fraternity and the native populace has not approved of the allegedly blatant disregard for ancient tradition, religious sentiment of the public and professionalism as evidenced in the questionable date announcement by the channel. With the issue escalating in the days following the said announcement, the temple committee is considering seeking a corrigendum from the news channel to clear the error.
Teerth Purohit at Brahmakapal in Badrinath and author B Sati opined that such an announcement amounts to playing with ancient traditions. Talking to The Pioneer, the BKTC chief executive officer BD Singh said that the type of “news” as in this case send a wrong message to the devotees.
He further said that as believed, since ancient times, the dates for closure and reopening of the temple’s Kapat to the public are arrived at ceremoniously and announced on the occasions of Vijaya Dashami and Vasant Panchami respectively.
The out of turn and questionable announcement by the news channel is in violation of traditions which have been observed for ages, he said. Singh also spoke of writing to the editor of the news channel seeking a corrigendum on the issue. Stating that any tampering with the traditions observed here is not good, he opined that such actions also send the wrong kind of message to the devotees which is not good.