Bankabihari pujari fired after giving Krsna cellphone to call Radhika

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Krishna in Jeans’ Priest Relieved of Duty

BY: SUN STAFF

Sep 19, VRINDAVAN, INDIA (SUN) — Jugal Goswami, the priest of the famous

Banke Bihari temple, has been relieved from duty on Monday for three days as a

penalty for dressing Lord Krishna in jeans, T-shirt and a cell phone. This

modern

‘western’ look led to strong protests in the holy town and raised a public

outrage.

Activists of groups like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) termed

the move blasphemy and burnt effigies of the priests. They demanded that "those

 

who defiled the sanctity of the temple" be punished.

General secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Shashtrarth Samiti and secretary of Kashi

Yuva Vidvat Parishad, Dr. Ram Narayan Dwivedi, who is also priest at the

Annapurna temple, demanded strong action against those involved. He said, "The

Hindu community would never tolerate such insult of its Deities. It was an

attempt to show the influence and supremacy of Western culture over Hindu

culture

and religion," he said.

Goswami apologised over the incident, and urged people not to turn what was

an innocent prank into a big political issue. "We devotees of Banke Behari are

very much concerned and this should not be lend any political colour by the

political parties," he said.

Gokal Behari Das, Mahant of the temple said, "This is a shameful work. Lord

Krishna was wearing T-shirt and a jean is really insulting. We want that the

people who are involved in this degrading crime should be arrested",

Sanskrit scholars characterized the event as the "wanton callousness" of the

Vrindavan priests. Vrindavan one of the holiest places of the Hindu religion,

remained completely closed on Monday.