Bhopal: Two temples in Bhopal have issued a ban on entry of devotees wearing "inappropriate" clothes and appealed people to come to the temple in "decent" dresses. A similar ban has already been imposed by some of the temples in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
The Digambar Jain Temple in Mangalara in Bhopal has put up a board outside the temple stating that entry will allowed only to devotees wearing "modest and decent" clothes. The temple management has clearly stated that devotees wearing jeans and skimpy clothes would not be allowed inside the temple. "One can look beautiful even by dressing modestly. It is not necessary that wearing torn and revealing clothes makes one look nice," read the board.
The dresses that have been restricted by the temple management includes skirts, jeans, t-shirts, black coloured clothes and all skimpy outfits. Aditya Mania Jain, senior member of the Digambar Jain Temple committee said that traditional dresses always appear nice at religious places. "When one comes here, the person gets connected with his/her spiritual self. Inappropriate dresses divert attention," he said.
Similar poster has been put up in Shivaji Nagar's Nava Durga Mata Temple wherein devotees have been asked to come wearing "cultured clothes". The temple authorities have argued that temple is a place of worship and indecent clothes go against the culture and rituals of the place.
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Both the temple authorities said that nowadays girls visit temples in half pants and western outfits that are against the Indian culture and tradition. "Such clothes are considered indecent and not suitable in a place of worship. One should always wear traditional dresses at temples to maintain dignity of the place," an official of the Nava Durga Mata Temple management said.
