Local Priests Are Opposing Gold Makeover Of Kedarnath Temple

UTTARAKHAND: Local priests are opposing the decision of the Badri Kedar Temple Committee (BKTC) and the Uttarakhand government to replace the silver plates that cover the walls of the Kedarnath's sanctum sanctorum with gold. 

Ths gold has been reportedly donated by a 'mysterious' businessman based in Mumbai. 

The BKTC took this decision which the government of Uttarakhand approved. The decision came in after a businessman offered to donate about 230 kg of gold to the temple. The businessman expressed his desire to see the walls of Kedarnath's sanctum sanctorum covered in gold as one of his 'long-time wish'. 

Local priests stood up against the decision and emphasized that goal represents wealth and worldly pleasures. This contradicted the ancient values of the temple which symbolises detachment from the physical world. 

Authority of the temple covered the walls of the sanctum sanctorum in the year 2017 with silver. About 230 kg of silver was used to cover the sanctum sanctorum back then. Thus the same amount of gold would be required to do the same with gold. The cost of the required gold would amount to more than Rs 100 crore. 

The vice-president of Char Dham Tirth Purohit Samaj, Santosh Trivedi expressed that renovating with gold plates would be equivalent to doing plastic surgery on Lord Shiva. He said, "For centuries, our lord is in the form of stones and 'praan pratishtha' is done there. Adding gold plates might be an important renovation for the world but for Lord Shiva it is just like a plastic surgery.'' He further added that Kedarnath is the place of salvation, i.e., Moksha Dhaam, and symbolises vairagya (detachment). Trivedi said, "Lord Shiva left everything to come to Himalayas. Even when the doors of the temple are closed every year, we use only bhabhooti (ashes) and nothing else. In that case, there is no need for gold or anything materialistic."

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