http://www.dnaindia
Dalits enter Shiva temple for first time in 900 years
Subhashish Mohanty / DNA
Friday, December 4, 2009 1:29 IST
Bhubaneswar: The Dalits of Kisinapur village in Cuttack district took
a big step on Wednesday. They walked inside the 900-year-old
Chhateswar temple in their village, which has been out of bounds for
them, and offered prayers to Lord Shiva. They were received at the
temple gate by the priests and served 'prasad'.
All these centuries, Dalits had been barred from entering the famous
temple, and nobody had even thought of defying the ban. "It was the
greatest day of my life. I had never dreamt of offering puja to the
deity," said 49-year-old Sabita Mallick.
She and hundreds of other Dalits organised under the Rastriya Yuva
Sangathan, which undertook the padayatra to mark the 75th year of
Mahatma Gandhi's march against untouchability in 1939.
The padayatra began from Bairee in Jajpur on November 30 and ended at
Kisinapur. The procession passed through Chattia, Champapur ashram,
Lekhapur, Rameshawar, Gopinathpur and Satyabhamapur.
Dr Biswajit Ray, spokesperson, Rastriya Yuva Sangathan, said the
Dalits felt good about this gesture from Brahmins. "There was no
palpable tension. Both sections of society exchanged pleasantries on
the occasion," he said. Later, the villagers dined together in a grand
community feast organised on the occasion.
The programme had been planned to build a bridge between Dalits and
the upper castes. And that's exactly what happened.
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