Priest Carries Dalit On Shoulders As Part Of Munivahana Utsavam

Hyderabad, Feb.25 (Maxim News): Temples Protection Movement (TPM) along with Samajika Samarasatha Vedika, Narsimha Vahini conducted ‘Munivahana Utsavam’ at Sri Laxmi Ranganatha Swamy Temple (Ranganayakula Gutta) here today.

Beginning with garlanding of Gandhi Statue, a big Shobha yatra was held with Nadaswaram, kolattam by hundreds of women on both the sides of the street. Krishna Chaitanya, an Archaka from Bhadrachalam Narsimha Swamy temple lifted Ravi, the Harijan, who sported Vaishnava Namam as a depiction of the revered Tiruppanalwar. The utsavasam involved TPM convenor and Chilkur Balaji Temple head priest C.S. Rangarajan, who officiated the event when the Archaka carried on his shoulders a Dalit devotee from outside the temple up to the Dhwajasthambam.

This is seen as a celebration of the ideals and teachings preached by Bhagawad Ramanuja, a Vaishnava Acharya, who stood in his time for a non-discriminatory and egalitarian society. In the present circumstances, when discrimination in the name of caste and class is rampant, the same was carried out in April 2018 for the first time after 2,700 years in Hyderabad, where CS Rangarajan carried a Dalit devotee Aditya Parasri into the Ranganatha Swamy temple in Jiyaguda amid fanfare.

“The idea was to show that Sanatana Dharma treated everyone as equal before the God and the so-called discrimination crept into the system in the recent times,” Rangarajan had told the media. Narrating his experience, Rangarajan said he had considered the Dalit devotee, Aditya Parasri, as the holy Tiruppanalwar Himself when he carried him into the temple. “It is heartening that my small step had coincided with the millennial appearance celebrations of Sri Vaishnavite Savant Bhagawad Ramanuja, who had fought for a casteless and egalitarian society,” he said, adding that the ‘Kaisika Purana’ also showed that a Brahmin surrendered before a Scheduled Tribe devotee and attained salvation. (Maxim News)