Temples are places of pilgrimage, not tourist spots to be ‘beautified’ : Mr Anil Dhir

Mr Anil Dhir

“Twenty-two ancient Mathas were demolished to beautify the famous Jagannath Temple in Odisha. We went to court against this, and we were fined Rs 1 lakh. Temples are basically beautiful, why beautify them ? These are not tourist spots, to put up plastic trees and poles, and glam them up, these are places of pilgrimage. Flower and fruit vendors, Babas who sit outside the temples are all part of the ‘Vernacular ecosystem’ of temples. It is not wise to remove them. The Jagannath Temple has 2 jewellery repositories, one of which has not been opened for the past 46 years. This has collapsed. Now the newly elected Government has instructed that its repair work has to be completed in just 7 days. This is not possible. In our view, it is important to keep the architecture of the Temple intact, even if the wealth within is not recovered”, said Mr Anil Dhir.

Mr Dhir further asked the basis on which we are going to become Vishwaguru. After the excavations in Mohenjodaro, Harappa, no major research was done. Excavation is not required for research, other avenues also provide much evidence of our ancient culture, but there is no research on it. Now due to scientific progress, genetic history of people can be studied. From this, one can realise that people have travelled out from here in ancient times. This will be called ‘Reverse Invasion’. When research on this is published, it will be time to rewrite history. How did a stone weighing 37 tons reach the top of Sun Temple in Odisha ? We have no answer to this. Even if the construction was off by 1 inch, the entire construction would have gone wrong. There is a need for research on this type of temple culture.