At a time when people are fighting over caste, what you’re going to see now is probably the most powerful message of equality for this generation. Today, we see people waiting for opportunities to fight over caste, religion and brush it with politics. But rarely, we get to see instances like these that will and should be widely shared to send out a strong message of breaking the barriers of social evils like untouchability and caste discrimination. A head priest of a temple carried a Dalit on his shoulders.
CS Soundararajan, head priest of Chilkur Balaji Temple, carried Aditya Parasri, a devotee hailing from the Hindu Dalit community, on his shoulders into the sanctum sanctorum of the famous Sri Ranganatha temple at Jiaguda in Hyderabad last evening. Parasri was sporting a turban and was garlanded with flowers. A massive crowd had gathered to witness the event. The crowd burst in to several rounds of applause appreciating the significance of the event. Fervid chants of “Brahmam Okkate, Parabrahmam Okkate” and Vedic hymns resonated across the 400-year-old temple.
The ritual is ‘Muni Vahana Seva’, a reneactment of a 2700-year-old incident believed to have taken place in Tamil Nadu. It is being done to re-establish the greatness of Sanatana Dharma and to propagate equality among all sections of the society.” In the Sri Vaishnava tradition, the Muni Vahana Seva is traced to the deity Sri Ranganatha himself. A priest, who meted out discriminatory treatment to Tiruppana, a ‘lower caste’ devotee of Sri Ranganatha himself, found the temple doors bolted from inside. The voice of Sri Ranganatha informs the priest that lord himself is grievously hurt by the act of the priest and doors of the temple would be shut for the priest unless he circumambulates the temple carrying the devotee on his shoulders.Many Vaishnavas still worship Tiruppana as ‘Munivahana’ because a Brahmin named Muni had carried him (served as his vahana) around the temple.
According to Deccan Chronicle, Aditya is quoted saying, “Being a Dalit, my family faced a lot of hardships and discrimination. The worst feeling was when my family was denied entry to the Lord Hanuman temple in Mahbubnagar, my native place. This sort of discrimination is not endorsed by any religion or Vedic scriptures or Upanishads. It is only there in the minds of the society and this mindset needs to change.” Stressing upon the need for unity among those in the Hindu community, Aditya added, “From centuries, people have been dividing the Hindus without proper knowledge of the Vedas. In the early days, there was this perception that Dalit people were not clean and hence, were not allowed inside temples. If you are not clean, even a teacher in school won’t allow you inside the classroom. So the Dalits stayed away. But today things have changed and there are smartphones everywhere, so why this disharmony?”
Speaking over the same, head priest Soundararajan said that many vested interests are trying to disturb the peace and harmony in the country. He added, “This act is enacted as a means to stop the oppression of Dalits and promote universal brotherhood among different sections.” Rangarajan is also the chairman of the Telangana Temples Protection Committee that is spearheading the movement to free temples from state control. In this ‘digital era’ where hatred can be easily spread and disrupt communal harmony, let’s hope that this is the beginning of breaking the barriers of social evils like untouchability and caste discrimination. For those, trying to find a fault even in this.. yes, it might be a once in a blue moon ritual, but let’s look at a big picture - the message of equality!
