Don't play with devotees’ feelings, endowment dept told

Balekodi Mutt seer Shashikanta Mani Swami has urged the Muzrai and Religious Endowment Department and the state government not to restrict the ‘Sarpa Samskara’ ritual inside the Samputa Narasimha Swami Mutt in Kukke Subramanya.

Addressing media persons on Thursday, the seer accused that the department has been playing with the religious sentiments of the devotees of Kukke Subrahmanya Temple and Samputa Narasimha Swami Mutt, by making it appear that the ritual carried out at the Mutt is not genuine. The Sarpa Samskara ritual carried out in the temple as well as in the mutt, from many years, he said.

He clarified that he is speaking on behalf of the Dalits belonging to Malekudiya community who have been revering the presiding deity Kukke Subrahmanya since several generations.

The seer said that the administrative committee of the temple monitored by the Religious Endowment Department has been imposing unjustified instructions on the devotees and restricting them from performing the rituals at the Samputa Narasimha Swamy Mutt.

He urged the deputy commissioner to intervene in the matter and direct the administrative committee of the temple not to restrict the devotees from performing Sarpa Samskara ritual at the place of their choice.

“There is no question of discrimination. It is the wish of some devotees to perform the Sarpa Samskara ritual at the Narasimha Swami mutt,” he said and expressed his displeasure over the interference of the Religious Endowment Department.

“It is the prerogative of the devotees to perform Sarpa Samskara ritual at the Samputa Narasimha Swami Mutt,” he said.