(Eds: Correcting date in dateline)Suri (WB), Jan 13 (PTI) Authorities of the famous Kalitemple at Tarapith has decided to do away with the age-oldpractice of allowing devotees to witness the original idol'sholy bath at dawn.
The sevait committee of the temple in Birbhum districtis scared that 'aguru', 'chandan', 'sindoor' and other itemspoured or smeared on the idol, a black coloured stone, by thedevotees are harming it.
"It is found that the materials poured by the devoteeson the deity is causing harm to the prehistoric originalidol," Sevait committee's secretary Dhruba Chatterjee said.
In the past, the materials applied on the idol used tobe natural but nowadays most of them are synthetic and aredamaging the idol.
Besides, other rituals that follow the holy bath alsoget affected because of the presence of so many devoteesinside the temple which is not very spacious, Chatterjee said.
During regular 'darshan' at the temple, the devoteessee a 3-feet-tall silver idol with a face, which covers theoriginal idol, a stone believed to depict as the goddesssuckling Lord Shiva.
At dawn, the original idol is given a holy bath and alarge number of devotees assemble inside the temple to witnessthat.
It is getting increasingly difficult to manage thecrowd and so it has been decided to stop the practice ofallowing visitors during the holy bath, the sources said. PTICOR SBN NNSBN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.