Author: PTI
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: July 14, 2005
URL: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jul/14kanchi.htm
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra:
Sonia Gandhi can enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Tirupati Mandir
without signing the register for non-Hindus as is the tradition.
The person has to say that he/she respects the Hindu religion.]
Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati
was on Thursday denied entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ramanathaswamy
temple in Rameswaram for performing early morning poojas to the presiding
deity.
The seer, who entered the temple
after taking bath at the holy 'agni theertham', was stopped in front of
the sanctum
sanctorum in the presence of mediapersons
and others accompanying him by temple Joint Commissioner Subramanian.
The official told the Sankaracharya
that the commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments,
which administers temples, had 'strictly instructed' him not to allow the
seer into the sanctum sanctorum.
The seer, on his first visit to
the temple after his arrest in the Sankararaman murder case in November
2004, then
asked the priest to do the pooja
on his behalf and offered prayers from outside the sanctum sanctorum.
Temple officials said the seer was
also denied entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the Dhanuskodi Kothanda
Ramar temple.
They agreed that as per temple manuals,
the Kanchi Sankaracharyas had the right to perform poojas in the sanctum
sanctorum of both the temples.
As per records, they had been doing so for the past several centuries.
Local Bharatiya Janata Party leader
Muralidharan, who also accompanied the seer along with a group of party
volunteers, entered into a heated argument with the temple officials and
told them that they had no right to deny permission to the seer.
However, they left the temple as
the officials remained firm.
