‘Tulsidas manuscript’ goes missing from Varanasi temple

According to police,around 3.15 pm on Thursday,the priest of the temple located near Tulsi Ghat informed the head mahant of Sankat Mochan Temple,professor Veerbhadra Mishra,about the theft. A trust looks after the famous Sankat Mochan temple and the Hanuman temple,which is located in Mishra’s residential premises.

DIG (Varanasi) Ram Kumar said a case of theft had been registered at Bhelupur police station. “We are trying to find the manuscript and trace the culprit,” he said.

The junior mahant of Sankat Mochan Temple,professor Vishwambhar Nath Mishra,son of the head mahant,told The Indian Express over phone that the manuscript was not originally written by Goswami Tulsidas. “However,his disciples handed over a collection of his works 24 years after the saint’s death in 1623 AD to his (mahant’s) family following the guru-shishya tradition,” he said.

Vishwambhar Nath Mishra added that the manuscript,wrapped in yellow cloth,was kept in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple,the foundation stone for which is believed to have been laid by Goswami Tulsidas. “The door of the sanctum is closed after the puja at noon and then opened around 3 pm. When priest Durga Mishra opened it,he found that the bolt on the rear door of the sanctum had been broken. The lock itself was not broken and there were signs of forced entry. There are three doorways to the temple.”

Apart from the manuscript,a silver mukut (crown) of Lord Hanuman has also gone missing. “But it appears that the thief’s only target was the manuscript,because a few other valuables kept there were left untouched,” said Vishwambhar Nath Mishra. He expressed apprehension that the culprits might have want to sell the manuscript in the international market at a high price.