Jagannath Rath Yatra 2023: Does Temple Allow Entry To People Of All Religions?

Sunday, June 18, 2023, 20:53

Jagannath of Puri welcomes his devotees to Puri, and extends his love to one and all, more so for devout folks. All that you need to be is his devotee and that is enough for him to bless you.

But temple authorities have a strict and uncompromising approach towards letting only certain classes of people inside the premises of the temple.

They have not spared anyone, including the politicians' sportsmen, actors and so on. Due to certain reasons, they allow only Hindus, who are orthodox and devoted to Jagannath.

They strictly allow Hindus. Be it a lower class or an upper-class Hindu, they do not discriminate between Hindus. They only have object to Muslims and Christians including foreigners entering the temple.

Jains, Hindu Buddhists and Dalit community are perfectly welcome as they are Hindus. Sikhs also are allowed entry as they are considered to be of Hindu Origin. Religions originating from Hinduism are also most welcome here.

When Bhagawan Jagannath is the creators of all human beings, why would he discriminate between hindus and nonhindus? Let us clearly understand the reasons why.
At the entrance of the temple, you can see a board which carries instructions about this in five languages including English.

"None but only orthodox Hindus or Sanatanis are allowed to enter the temple." Even queens and kings were not exempt from this rule.

But there is a provision for non hindus to catch a glimpse of Jagannath, only during the time of Rathyatra,. In June July months, when the deities step out of the temple to grant darshan to one and all.

However, But even during Rath Yatra, non-Hindus are not allowed to climb up on the rath or chariot to have a glimpse of the lord or to stroll inside the temple premises.

However, it is still possible for non-Hindus to get a darshan by climbing atop the roof of the Raghu Nandan library which is adjoining the temple and then offer their prayers from there to Lord Jagannath.

Since Jagannath lord is accessible to everyone, he has this privilege to come out of the temple and give darshan to his devotees. In the case of other temples and deities, this custom is not followed.

The priestly class belonging to the temple management committee, stick to their argument that non-Hindus should not be allowed because of certain strong reasons.

Firstly, their morale was shattered when the temple was plundered and looted during 17 attacks on Jagannath temple by Foreigners and Muslims.

Although these attacks could not harm the idol of Jagannath, the priests have not yet recovered from the historical shock of seeing the temple plundered and disfigured.

The idols were hidden in different places during every attack. Jagannath lord had to stay away from his mandir for about 144 years. Their faith was not shaken nor they surrendered to the plunderers.

Famous People Who Were Not Allowed Darshan Inside The Temple:

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the people who were denied entry into the temple as he had showed up with a group of followers that included Muslims and Christians.

Gandhiji was not allowed to enter despite his privileges because he could not enter the temple with his entourage.

Vinoba Bhave also did not succeed in entering the temple in 1934 CE as he had tried to get inside the temple with a team of Christians and Muslims.

Mrs. Indira Gandhi also intended to visit Puri Jagannath temple but she was denied entry in the year 1984, which was also the year she was assassinated while still serving in the Prime ministerial position.

It was on the grounds that she was not a Hindu according to dharma shastras as she had married a Parsi who was not a Hindu.

Amongst Hindus, the woman marries not only the man but also into his gotra and religion. For example, if a Kshatriya woman marries a Jain man, her religion is Jainism and she is considered a jain for life. So, she had to take darshan of the lord from the Raghu Nandan library.

Kabir:

The mystical saint Kabir was denied entry too. Later one of the priests had a dream of Jagannath where in the Lord instructed them to allow Kabir an entry inside the temple. His orders were duly followed the next day.

Guru Nanak:

Guru Nanak, the Sikh guru, was stopped while trying to enter the Jagannath Temple in 1508 C.E. as he was accompanied by a Muslim disciple. But later he visited twice, when he came alone.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

He was invited warmly by the priests of the temple but his disciples were not allowed in as they were foreigners. Appalled by the discrimination, Swami refused to enter the temple himself. Once his disciples were allowed in to the temple, he entered the temple premises.

Actually, the contribution of potters' community is tremendous in making clay pots for serving and cooking the mahaprasad.

In fact, the Daitapatis, who are the chief priests are originally tribals. But without their presence, it is really a difficult task to conduct the rath yatra and Nabakalebara ritual. will be very difficult to perform without their help.

They are the chosen men of God to do the chosen seva to God. Some of the servitors or Sebaks of the temple do not belong to the upper-class community and these are in charge of daily rituals and seva to Jagannath.

The second Dalit president of India, Ram Nath Kovind, along with his wife, had a smooth and easy darshan of the lord in the temple.

The queen of Thailand was stopped from entering Puri temple in 2005 because, despite being a devout Buddhist, she belonged to a foreign land, that is, South East Asia.

In the year 2006, a Swiss lady donated 1 crore and 78 lakhs to the temple with a view to get permission to enter the temple.

But she also was not allowed to visit. Money does not have an impact on people who rely on Jagannatha to give them what they want.

Some Iskcon members are foreigners by birth and can not expect to enter the premises as Foreigners are basically Christians and this is the reason behind the refusal to allow them in.

Some foreigners from Argentina and South America have tried to enter stealthily but they have been caught and hence failed their attempts.

The first thing the Archaks do is to send them away from the temple, close the temple for every one for that day, cleanse and purify the temple the next day and allow every one for darshan. Strict action is taken against such people who have transgressed the laws of the temple.