Who Gets to Enter Hindu Temples?

In the January/February/March issue of Hinduism Today Sheela Venkatakrishnan shares an experience of being denied entry to one of her favorite temples. Not herself, but two monks she was with that day in July as they sought to worship God Siva at the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore. That denial of entry to pure and wholehearted Hindus did not sit well with Sheela and she wrote passionately about it:

"In my hometown of Chennai, I was visiting an ancient Siva temple with two monks who had traveled thousands of miles to worship at this renowned pilgrimage destination. One, brown-skinned with Tamil features, was clad in the orange robes of a sannyasin. The other, wearing the yellow robes of a yogi, was white-skinned, light-eyed, obviously not Tamil or even Indian. A small group of us waited eagerly to have darshan of the Gods in this famous temple in the presence of these two monks from the Kauai Aadheenam in Hawaii. A special ticket can give access to the inner shrine, nearer to the Lord. But on this day no access would be permitted for the yogi. The priest denied him entrance. If he could not go in, how could any of us? So, we had our darshan from the outer mandapam. The priest took our offerings to the Lord, performed arati and brought out the flame for us.

"Who decides these things? Here I attempt to express my feelings and thoughts surrounding what occurred, hoping to find solace for my aching heart and, ideally, contribute to finding a resolution to what seems to me to be a critical issue in the Hindu community."

For the author's full appraisal of this happening, stay tuned to Hinduismtoday.com

The gate welcoming devotees (well, most devotees)

The entry mandapam of the temple at night

Though it is in a city, this Siva temple has a formal pond

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