Italian-born noted Odissi dancer Ileana Citaristi was manhandled by two priests on the chariot of Lord Jagannath on Sunday. She has lodged a complaint to this effect with the district superintendent of police and the Shree Jagannath Temple administrator.
In her complaint, she alleged that two priests standing on the chariot beat her on head when she refused to pay them Rs 1,000 as dakshina. She said, “Two priests wanted to fleece me and demanded Rs 1,000 as dakshina. When I opposed, they nudged me, slapped me and hit me on the head.” After she refused to give them money, the priests shouted ‘foreigner, foreigner’ and pushed her away from the top of the chariot. However, when she climbed the chariot to have a darshan of the Lord Jagannath nobody objected.
“We know that non-Hindus are not allowed inside the Jagannath Temple. But there is no such official restrictions on the presence of non-Hindus on the chariot outside the temple during the Ratha Yatra,” said Padmashree Citaristi, who has been living in Odisha since 1979 and teaching Odissi as an accomplished dance guru. She is well known in the cultural circle of Odisha. She is also a devotee of Lord Jagannath.
After hearing about the incident, Ramakrishna Das Mohapatra, the president of Daitapati Nijog, expressed anguish over the incident and sorry. He said such kind of nuisance should not have happened. He promised he would talk to his brotherly priests and settle the matter amicably.
Temple administrator and central RDC Arabinda Padhi has ordered an inquiry into the unsavoury incident. “I spoke to her and condemned the embarrassment she had to face on the chariot. Action will be taken against erring priests,” said Padhi.
“The temple administration will refer the matter to the state police after obtaining a report on the alleged incident from the temple commander,” Padhi said, terming the incident unfortunate. “Under no circumstances, anyone should show disrespect to devotees,” he said.
— with agency inputs
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