Priests to purify Jagannath temple in Orissa following Dalits' entry

Kendrapara: A day after 200 Dalits entered an Orissa temple in the wake of a court ruling in their favour, the temple's priests yesterday said they would perform purification rituals.

The Dalits on Thursday entered the Jagannath temple at Keradagarh village, 45km from here, defying an age-old ban on their entry by upper castes. They also performed rituals under police protection following last week's high court ruling that allowed them to do so. However, the temple's chief priest Madan Mohan Panda said: "We stopped all the rituals that have been regularly performed since decades after they [Dalits] entered the temple on Thursday.

"The Dalits have besmirched the religious traditions and made impure the temple. Now as per practice, we need to perform Maha Snana, a bath ritual of the deity," he said.

"We have already contacted the local royal family members as the temple was built in the 18th century by their predecessors to seek their permission to perform the purification rituals.

"Until the purification rituals are performed, the main gate of the temple would not be opened by us," he said. Upper caste campaigner Suren Swain said: "We will organise a meeting of a large number of upper caste people Saturday to chalk out plans to prevent any further entry of Dalits into the temple."