Dress code in temples: A dress code has been implemented for women and girls in three major temples that come under Mahanirvani Akhara in Uttarakhand. Speaking to the news agency ANI, Shrimahant Ravindra Puri, Secretary of Mahanirvani Akhara and President of Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad, said that women and girls cannot wear short clothes and enter the three temples that come under Mahanirvani Akhar.
The temples include Daksh Prajapati Temple at Kankhal in Haridwar, Neelkanth Mahadev Temple in Pauri district and Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple in Dehradun, he said. "Women and girls cannot enter these three temples wearing short clothes. These three temples come under Mahanirvani Akhara," Puri added.
'Temple is a place for introspection and not for entertainment'
He further said that the Akhara has appealed to the devotees visiting the temple that the temple is a place for introspection and not for entertainment. "On behalf of Mahanirvani Akhara, an appeal has been made to women and girls that if they are coming for temple worship, then they should wear clothes according to Indian tradition. Only then they will get entry into the temple", he added.
Shrimant Ravindra Puri appealed to the girls and women as well as their family members to come to the temples only with at least 80 per cent of their body covered. He claimed that this system is already in force in temples of South India and Maharashtra. "Now this system is being implemented here also. So that the devotees coming to the temple do not face any uncomfortable situation," he added.
Nagpur temples implement dress code for devotees
Earlier, as many as four temples in Maharashtra's Nagpur district implemented a "Vastra Samhita" or dress code for devotees. It has been implemented at Gopalkrishna temple in Dhantoli, Sankatmochan Panchmukhi Hanuman temple in Bellori (Saoner), Brihaspati temple in Kanolibara and Durgamata temple in Hilltop area in Nagpur city from May 26.
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The issue of dress code in places of worship was in the news earlier this month when the famous Tulja Bhavani temple in the state tried to regulate how visiting devotees dress before withdrawing the fiat. Devotees should not wear "objectionable" clothes, he said, adding that the decision was taken after a meeting of the Maharashtra Temple Trust Council at Jalgaon in north Maharashtra.
(With inputs from agencies)
