Ratlam: Devotees wearing ‘western and tight’ clothes are barred from entering the Kalika temple

Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh): Devotees wearing “short western attire” and shorts will not be allowed entry into the Devi Kalika temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam city, the temple priest said. “Devotees wearing western and short attire and shorts (half pants) will not be allowed entry into the temple to protect the sanctity of the temple,” priest Rajendra Sharma told PTI. Several plaques mentioning the type of clothes that are banned have been put up around the four-century-old temple. “Any devotee wearing indecent attire will not be allowed to enter the temple or the sanctum sanctorum,” Sharma said. Such devotees can have darshan from outside, he said. The temple is maintained by the Ratlam district administration under the Court of Wards Act. “I have come to know about the decision of the temple management committee to ban western attire,” tehsildar Rishabh Thakur said. Sharma claimed that Raja Ratan Singh, who settled Ratlam, had built the temple 400 years ago and performed the pran pratishtha of the Kul Devi. Welcoming the decision, a devotee said that western attire is an attack on India’s rich culture and Sanatan Dharma. Apart from the reigning goddess in the temple, idols of Maa Chamunda and Maa Annapurna are also consecrated, where a large number of devotees from Ratlam and other places come. Garba festival is organised in the temple premises during Navratri.