LUCKNOW: In reverence to the Lord Shiva on the festival of
Mahashivratri on Thursday, a member of a Scheduled Caste -- Pasi — has been anointed as the head priest of a newly built temple on the Lucknow-Sultanpur road.
Akanasha Dubey, who has done international law from the Stanford Law School and University of Cambridge and is settled in Lucknow as an advocate of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, has constructed a huge Lord Shiva temple Shri Devadhidev Mahadev Sthanam on the Lucknow-Sultanpur road, about 25 km from Lucknow.
Talking to TOI, she said: “I feel Lord Shiva symbolises equality, compassion and goodness and is destroyer of all ills plaguing the society. Following the Shiva’s virtues and his philosophy, I have decided to nominate Phooldev, a Scheduled Caste, as pujari (priest) of the temple.”
Akansha, a pass-out of the New York State Supreme Court, organised a massive ‘Rudrabhishek’ programme to formally hand over the temple to Phooldev. Amid chanting of Om Namah Shivay by hundreds of people, the new priest performed ‘Rudrabhishek’. Senior politicians and government officers also attended the ritual.
Recalling her decision of anointing an SC as the head priest, Akansha said some construction work was going on near the spot where now exists the temple when some locals spotted an idol of Lord Shiva. “At that very moment we all decided to construct a grand Shiva temple on the spot,” she said and added that Phooldev, who was working as labourer on the construction site, had good knowledge of religion and priesthood. “I immediately decided to make him the head priest of the temple,” she added.
“Initially, there was a muted criticism of Phooldev’s nomination as temple priest. But later people accepted him. Today, he formally became the head priest of the temple,” Akansha, who described her decision as ‘sanskritisation’ (cultural purification) of the society, said.
“Main kya bolu. Main to kabhi sapne mein bhi nahi soch sakta tha (What should I say. I had never imagined that I would be head priest of a temple one day),” remarked the priest.
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