The Rishi Droom Ashram is said to date back to the time of the Mahabharata.
Highlights
- Hamirpur's Rishi Droom Ashram temple staff "purified" the premises
- BJP legislator Manisha Anuragi had visited the temple last month
- Locals said women weren't allowed inside and could only pray from outside
A temple inside an ancient ashram in Uttar Pradesh's drought-hit Bundelkhand region was "purified" with water from the river Ganga and its idol was sent for a holy dip in Allahabad - around 220 km away - all because a woman entered the temple.
The temple is in the Hamirpur district. Some 20 days ago, the BJP legislator from the area, Manisha Anuragi, visited it during an inspection of government welfare schemes in the area. For distributing school uniforms, she visited the Rishi Droom Ashram and the temple inside it.
The Ashram is said to date back to the time of the Mahabharata. The lawmaker says some local people suggested that she visit the temple and the ashram because they are so ancient.
Manisha Anuragi visited the Rishi Droom Ashram and the temple inside it.
Ms Anuragi walked into the temple and prayed, not knowing then that it would cause some commotion. Locals said women were not allowed inside the temple and could only pray from outside.
They told the legislator that a woman's entry in the temple would enrage the gods.
"I was not around that day or I would have told her not to go inside," Swami Dayanand, a priest at the ashram told the news agency ANI.
"She went inside due to ignorance and prayed. To uphold our tradition, we had to carry out the purification process," the priest said.
The lawmaker says she was not aware of such a "ban" and no one tried to stop her.
"People had told me so much about this temple in the past too and I was very eager to visit it. I did so when I got the chance. I was not aware of the tradition and local people were with me at that time. It's an insult to women if things like purification have happened. These are deeds of ignorant people," Ms Anuragi said.
The incident comes at a time the Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging restrictions on the entry of women in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.