Pejawar Swami warns against temple takeover

“The Mathadhipathis of the eight Maths at Udupi will go on an indefinite hunger strike if the Government takes over Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi and appoints an administrator to the temple,” the Pejawar Swamiji Vishwesha Thirtha, said.

He said that the Maths had been exempted from the Karnataka Religious and Charitable Endowments Act. “The Krishna temple belongs to the Ashta Maths and puja performed by the pontiffs on rotation for the past 800 years. But there is no dispute over allowing people to enter the temple to worship Lord Krishna,” he said.

The Swamiji said that the State government was aware about the facts and cannot bring the temple under the Endowments Department now.

The recent statement of the Minister for Revenue, M.P. Prakash, that according to the Supreme Court order, the Krishna Temple had been notified under the Hindu Religious Endowments Act along with other temples in the State and that the Government intended to bring the Krishna temple under the Endowments Department and appoint an administrator, was surprising.