Priests to purify Orissa temple after Dalit entry

A day after 200 Dalits barged into an Orissa temple in the wake of a court ruling in their favour, the temple's priests on Friday said they would perform purification rituals.

The Dalits entered the Jagannath temple at Keradagarh village defying a ban by the upper caste people. They also performed rituals under police protection following last week's high court ruling that allowed them to do so.

However, the temple's chief priest Madan Mohan Panda, said: "We stopped all rituals that have been regularly performed since decades after they (Dalits) entered the temple premises."  "The Dalits have besmirched the religious traditions and have polluted the temple. We need to perform Maha Snana, a bath ritual of the deity," Panda said.

"We have already contacted the local royal family members as the temple was built in the 18th century by their predecessors. Until the purification rituals are performed, the main gate of the temple will remain closed," he said.