Yamunotri Dham Clarifies Row Over Entry, Says Every Devotee Allowed Irrespective Of Religion, Caste
This contrasts with Badrinath and Gangotri, which have conditional entry for non-Sanatan Dharma followers. The Char Dham Yatra begins April 19th, with over 932,000 devotees already registered.
Uttarkashi, Mar 27 (PTI) The management committee of Yamunotri Dham, one of the Char Dhams located in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, has decided that every person coming to the temple with devotion will be allowed to visit irrespective of their religion or caste.
Yamunotri Temple Committee spokesperson Purushottam Uniyal said, "Every person coming on the Char Dham Yatra is a Sanatani and we have decided that whoever comes with devotion on the Yamunotri Dham Yatra will be welcomed in the tradition of 'Atithi Devo Bhava' (Guest is god)." No devotee will be asked about his religion or caste at Yamunotri, and he will be given darshan of Goddess Yamuna, he added.
Earlier, conditional entry for non-followers of 'Sanatan Dharma' was allowed in Badrinath Dham, Kedarnath Dham and Gangotri Dham.
Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee Chairman Hemant Dwivedi said that if any non-Hindu gives an affidavit of his faith in Sanatan Dharma, he will be allowed to visit the temples.
At the same time, the Gangotri Temple Committee has announced that non-Sanatanists will be allowed entry into the temple only after consuming Panchagavya (a prasad made by mixing cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd and ghee).
This year, the Char Dham Yatra will begin on April 19, on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, with the opening of the doors of Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines in the Uttarkashi district.
The doors of the Badrinath shrine will open on April 23, and those of the Kedarnath shrine will open on April 22.
Online registration for Char Dham Yatra began on March 6 and till 5 pm on Thursday, over 9.32 lakh devotees have registered.
Apart from this, more than 4,000 devotees have also registered for the Hemkund Sahib Yatra starting from May 23.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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