Temples in Orissa practise xenophobia and are extremely rigid about it. The priests in these temples think it is their right to deny foreigners entry into the temples, and are even unrepentant about this.

It was very sad to read that the Thai princess, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, was denied entry into the Puri Jagannath temple just because she hails from outside the subcontinent. Similar was the case of the American Pamela Fleig at Bhubaneswar’s Lingaraj temple even though she is a Hindu.

I have heard similar stories from many other western Hindu friends, and this is quite a universal phenomenon in many Indian temples, even outside Orissa. It does not matter that the foreigner could be a Hindu, but she is denied entry because of the place where she was born.

This is worse than casteism! Even the so-called lower castes have a right to worship in temples and are not indiscriminately denied entry into temples especially in free India. It looks like the Govt. will have to legislate similarly for foreigners!

I have personally seen notice-boards in a few temples in Tamil Nadu that expressly forbid any non-Hindu from entering them, leave alone non-Indian. A temple is a place of God and nobody should be denied access to any God! Be she Hindu or not, Indian or not, denying access to God is a spiritual crime.

I think this arises from the insecurity of us Hindus after the painful experiences of the British. The Europeans that invaded and colonized India had extremely hateful and denigrating views of India, its culture, tradition and practices. Especially, the Christian missionaries were forthright in degrading Hinduism in order to convert Indians.

I believe that forbidding entry to foreigners is a remnant of our insecure feelings from past experience.

However, that does not justify the practice today, at a time when the entire world has become so global. There are numerous Hindus that are not Indians, there are numerous Hindus that are not brown-skinned and there are numerous non-Hindus that are interested in visiting temples.

In denying temple access to non-Indians and non-Hindus, we are committing a grave mistake and creating bad publicity for Hinduism. Even those that are genuinely interested in the religion will be turned away because of this discrimination.

It is therefore in Hinduism’s best interests to open up the religion and its temples to non-Hindus and foreigners. Do share your opinions below.

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