Dalits enter Shiva temple for first time in 900 years

The Dalits of Kisinapur village in Cuttack district took a big step on Wednesday. They walked inside the 900-year-old Chhateswar temple in their village, which has been out of bounds for them, and offered prayers to Lord Shiva. They were received at the temple gate by the priests and served ‘prasad’.

All these centuries, Dalits had been barred from entering the famous temple, and nobody had even thought of defying the ban. “It was the greatest day of my life. I had never dreamt of offering puja to the deity,” said 49-year-old Sabita Mallick.

She and hundreds of other Dalits organised under the Rastriya Yuva Sangathan, which undertook the padayatra to mark the 75th year of Mahatma Gandhi’s march against untouchability in 1939.

The padayatra began from Bairee in Jajpur on November 30 and ended at Kisinapur. The procession passed through Chattia, Champapur ashram, Lekhapur, Rameshawar, Gopinathpur and Satyabhamapur.

Dr Biswajit Ray, spokesperson, Rastriya Yuva Sangathan, said the Dalits felt good about this gesture from Brahmins. “There was no palpable tension. Both sections of society exchanged pleasantries on the occasion,” he said. Later, the villagers dined together in a grand community feast organised on the occasion.

The programme had been planned to build a bridge between Dalits and the upper castes. And that’s exactly what happened.