Nepal ends monopoly of Indian priests on Pashupatinath temple

Pashupatinath Temple

KATHMANDU: Ending the centuries-old monopoly of South Indian Brahmins, Nepal’s government has issued a regulation enabling Nepalese citizens and others to become the priests and chief priest of the famed Pashupatinath temple here, one of the eight holiest Hindu shrines.

As per the new regulation framed by Ministry of Culture and State Restructure, any person, who is qualified, can become the priest without any nationality bar, according to sources at the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT).

“The government has decided to fill the vacancy for the posts of chief priest and priests of Pashupatinath temple by issuing a notice in national dailies to appoint them on the basis of free competition,” Parmananad Shakya, member secretary of PADT said.

Now any one, including Nepalese and Indian nationals, who are qualified can apply for the jobs, he said.

Local religious activists, however, rejected the Ministry’s decision saying it was “illegal and impractical”.

Maoists’ government last year sacked three Indian priests serving at the temple and replaced them with Nepalese nationals, triggering widespread protests across the country.

Prime Minister Prachanda, who is also the patron of the temple, was forced to reverse the decision by issuing a statement in the Parliament.

Prachanda had said he did not intend to displace the South Indian ‘Bhatta’ Brahmins, who had been overseeing the rituals at the temple for the past 300 years.

The appointment of Nepalese priests in place of Indians was a “mere coincidence” and not intended to oust the former, he had said.

It is learnt that the local Bhandaris were also not satisfied with the new arrangements as they were getting very little money as compared to what they used to get in the past.

“We welcome the decision to make the Pashupati’s fund transparent and arrangements to provide fixed salary and benefits to the Priests at the temple, but the decision was made by the Maoist government unilaterally and it was illegal,” said Narottam Vaidya, former member of the PADT and a Nepali Congress activist.

The decision should have been made by the cabinet not by the ministry and now as Prime Minister Prachanda has already resigned from the post the legality of the Maoist government’s new decision can be questioned, he said.

PADT’s member secretary Shakya, however, claims that he was informed about the decision one week ago. But sources at the Trust said that they were informed about the decision only on Tuesday. The decision might have been made by the Ministry through a back dated minuting after the PM’s resignation, Vaidya suspect.

The chief priest will now receive NRs. 1,000 daily allowances and monthly NRs. 21,000 salary and other priests will receive daily NRs. 700 allowances and NRs. 19,000 monthly allowances, as per the new arrangements.

Earlier, the chief priest, priests and their Nepali aides who are known as Bhandaris were also entitled to get share from the cash offered by the devotees at the temple.

Now all the cash and goods offered at the Pashupatinath temple are collected and deposited in the PADT’s fund. The Bhandaris who are appointed to aid the priests will also get fixed allowances from the temple as per the new arrangement.

Each of the 108 Bhandaris will get Rs. 100,000 allowance turn by turn and Rs. 25,000 will be provided for their assistants.

source: The Times of India