King’s temple ritual safe if throne is lost
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Religion/225327/
BHUBANESHWAR, India — Nepal’s monarch may soon be reduced to a commoner but there is one place he will always be king.
Officials at the Jagannath Temple in eastern India, one of Hinduism’s holiest sites, said Wednesday that political events in Nepal, where the country’s soon-to-be communist rulers plan to abolish the monarchy, would have no bearing on King Gyanendra’s special privileges at the shrine.
Tradition holds that Nepal’s monarchs are reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu, and they have long been treated as divine at the Jagannath Temple, allowing them to perform rituals on the temple’s sacred altar with the assistance of high-ranking priests.
That won’t change even if Nepal’s Maoists, who look set to lead Nepal’s new government after elections last month, make good on their campaign promise to do away with the 239-yearold Shah dynasty and turn the world’s last Hindu kingdom into a secular republic.
“The temple will continue to recognize Gyanendra as Nepal’s king and he will be allowed to do all the rituals, even if the monarchy will be abolished in Nepal,” temple spokesman Laxmi Dhar Pujapanda told The Associated Press. “He and his kin will always be allowed to offer the special prayers.”
The temple in the holy city of Puri is an important pilgrimage site, particularly for followers of the Hindu gods Krishna and Vishnu.
When Gyanendra visits — his last trip was in 2003 — the temple is cleared of worshippers and he and his family are put up in a nearby palace. Those traditions will also continue, Pujapanda said.