BHOPAL: Prisoners working in farms, learning computers skills, getting diplomas and degrees through open universities aren’t new. But, what about prisoners becoming purohits (priests) after their jail terms end?
Akhil Vishwa Gayatri Pariwar (AVGP), a spiritual organisation, has joined hands with the Madhya Pradesh Jail Department to train inmates of the Bhopal Central Jail to perform various Vedic rituals so that they can become purohits and earn an honourable living once they are released from the jail.
The classes, which began on March 1, will end on March 31. Fifteen theory classes have been conducted in the jail’s library and the results of the mid-course exam are promising. “We expected them to score 10 to 15 per cent. But the actual result have been around 60%,” a representative of AVGP Ramesh Nagar said on Friday.
“After Holi, we’ll begin practical classes to train them to execute the theoritical knowledge of karmakanda in the jail’s Yagyashala,” Pariwar said. According to Bhopal Central Jail’s deputy superintendent Priyadarshan Srivastava, the inmates who have attained some formal education (including school dropouts) who are to be released in a span of six months to two years have been enrolled in the course.
“A thorough process of screening has been carefully undertaken to select students for the month-long course, irrespective of the cast they belong to,” Srivastava said. The course not only covers every ritual connected with the 16 sanskars (sacraments or rituals) of human life under Hinduism, spanning from Garbhadhana to Yagyopaveet and Vivah to Antyeyasthi.