Author: Special Correspondent
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: April 12, 2007
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com//1070412/asp/nation/story_7637222.asp
Lord Venkateshwara, said to draw devotees
from all over the world to India's richest temple near Tirupati, is reaching
out to the lowest of the lowly.
In an experiment aimed at social integration,
the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam, which manages the temple, for the first
time brought the Utsava Murthy (processional deity) from the hill shrine to
the predominantly Dalit village of Vemuru, 13 km from Tirupati in Chittoor
district.
Under the initiative named Dalitha Govindam,
Lord Venkateshwara - popularly known in the north as Lord Balaji - and his
consort, goddess Padmavathigaru, were brought to the remote village where
the Srinivasa Kalyanam (celestial marriage of the Lord) was performed in front
of hundreds of villagers.
Men, women and children lined up with flowers
and lighted camphor to receive the deities as priests took them around the
main streets and placed them in a pandal for the symbolic marriage ceremony.
In a village sharply divided on caste loyalties
till recently, people thronged the pandal, shedding their differences and
standing shoulder-to-shoulder to witness the ceremony. After a bitter struggle
some four years ago, the Dalits, with the moral support of the hill shrine
management, had been able to enter a Ram temple in the village, to which they
had earlier been denied by the upper castes.
Hinduism had become caste-ridden in the medieval
period and its lofty ideals had given way to "narrow-minded beliefs and
outdated doctrines", said B. Karunakar Reddy, chairman of the hill shrine
management.
"It is high time we endeavour to make
the Dalits feel they are part and parcel of Hinduism and its age-old traditions,"
said Reddy, explaining the importance of the initiative.
"This is a unique ceremony. Usually the
devotees pay around Rs 1,000 to witness the Kalyana Utsavam performed at the
hill shrine at Tirumala. But the shrine management has decided to conduct
the ceremony free to help bring the upper castes and the Dalits together."
Maintaining that India's ancient "Vedic
culture" was all-inclusive and did not perpetuate the caste system, which
became a bane much later, Reddy said the challenge was to revive that catholicity
of outlook.
The initiative was part of programmes being
launched by the temple management for the "well-being of the Dalits"
and to help prevent religious conversions, he added.
After about 40 "Veda pandits" performed
the celestial wedding for the Lord and his consort, the priests blessed the
people and distributed prasad.
