Priests adorn Goddess in churidar, lose jobs

Shocked to see their idol in such attire, devotees complained to the temple’s administration, Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, about it and the priest K Raj Gurukkal (40) who decorated the idol, and his father were asked to resign. 

Gurukkal had joined the temple in August last year and was helping his father who was a senior priest. It is customary for the temple’s priests to decorate the idol with sandal paste and glittering colour papers every Friday in the Tamil month Thai. 

But, the paper is traditionally used to drape a saree on the deity. On Friday, however, Gurukkal tried to be more creative and decorated the idol with a pink churidar and a blue dupatta. 

Interestingly, the priest had received accolades when he had decorated the Nandi idol of the temple with 15,000 notes of Rs 100 currency notes a few months ago. Meanwhile, temple administrator S Ganesan said that Gurukkal’s intention was not to disgrace the goddess but to attract devotees and the media through his creativity. 

“But as several devotees opposed the move and raised concerns that it was against the agama rules, the Mutt recommended termination of Gurukkal and his father’s services,” he said.