‘Don’t hold temples responsible for 'madae snana''

While the government is mulling over the ban of Madae Snana, the temple authorities have justified saying they have got nothing to do with the ritual and that none of the temples have officially included Madae Snana as part of their puja list.

Madae Snana, the ritual of people rolling over the leftover food consumed by Brahmins on plantain leaves, made the headlines when social welfare minister A Narayanaswamy, alongside a few progressive thinkers, stated that the ritual undermines human dignity.

The government is free to take any step to ban Madae Snana. But let it not hold the temples responsible for organising the ritual, said the leaders of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district Temples association. In response to minister Narayanaswamy’s statement that the temples will be penalised, Padmanabha Shastry a senior temple administrator in Udupi, said: “Show me one temple that has Madae Snana on the list of sevas [services] offered by any temple. It is not just Kukke Subramanya temple; there are other temples too.” He said that these rituals are not officially organised by the temples; the devotees take it up on their own accord. If the government wants to stop that, it should sensitise the people instead of penalising the temples, he said.

“We were shocked that some social reformers had made scathing remarks on Hindu temples at a protest meet held at Freedom Park. People should get their facts right before pointing fingers at the temple,” said Hayavadana Upadhya, office-bearer, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Temple Management’s Association.