Lagatar24 Network
Dumka, Jan 8: A day after the Dumka district administration enforced Arghya system at Basukinath Dham Shiva temple, it had to step back from the move to facilitate devotees offer ‘Sparsh Puja’ by touching the shivalingam and pouring the sacred water directly on the deity.
The administrative rollback, however, is attributed to the stiff opposition of the local priest community which cited the instance of the prevailing arrangements at the Baidyanath Dham temple in Deoghar where no such measure so as to restrict devotees from the Sparsh Puja has so far been introduced.
This is for the second time that the Basukinath Dham temple management committee had to step back from its decision to install the Arghya system outside the Sanctum Sanctorum owing to the priests’ resistance.
The Arghya system was introduced by the temple management committee on Wednesday (January 5) which had to be removed within an hour and was again enforced on the next day (Thursday) terming the same to be aimed at preventing the spread of the Coronavirus being on the surge.
However, the Arghya system which enables devotees to pour the sacred water to the deity through a large metal vessel without entering into the Garbha Griha (the Sanctum Sanctorum), has again been withdrawn by the management committee from last evening which the priest community termed as discriminating.
“How can the Dumka district administration adopt any such practice at Basukinath Dham here which otherwise is not followed at the Baidyanath Dham temple in Deoghar,” Hemant Giri, a local priest remarked adding that the affairs of both the temples are governed by the same Shrine board.
The Baidyanath Dham-Basukinath Dham Shrine Area Development Authority which is commonly referred to as the Shrine board had come into being through an act in 2015 with the chief minister being its ex-officio chairperson.
SDO (Civil) of Dumka Maheshwar Mahto who also happens to be the secretary of the Basukinath Dham management committee however could not be contacted for his version over the subsequent rollback of the Arghya system.
Meanwhile, it has been made mandatory for the devotees to produce the certificates of both the vaccination doses against the Coronavirus apart from other Covid appropriate behaviour.
