Karnataka temple appoints two Dalit widows as priests

This is the first temple in the country to have appointed two Dalit widows as priests.

Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple here is perhaps the first in the country to appoint two Dalit widows as priests to perform pujas and other rituals.

Last year the temple appointed two other widows as priests who had been performing their duties since then.

Chandravathi from Ranipur and Lakshmi from Chilimbi were appointed as priests in the century-old shrine on Monday, making them the first widows from SC-ST communities.

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They were received at the temple entrance by the temple committee members, including the managing trustee and former Union Minister B Janardhana Poojary and taken inside the premises in a procession.

Later they performed pujas and distributed prasad to devotees.

The committee members claimed that this was the first temple in the country to have appointed two Dalit widows as priests.

Speaking on the occasion, Poojary said discrimination against women, especially widows, should be stopped in all walks of life. All women should be treated as mothers, he added.

The principles of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru that all are equal in the eyes of God and possess the same rights will be followed at the temple, he added.

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The Guru had consecrated the temple in 1912. This year’s Mangalore Dasara celebrations at the temple was inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on September 19.

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