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Panel mulls salary for Pashupati priests

KATHMANDU, DEC 09 -
Transparency of monetary offerings to the Pashupatinath temple, which has always been a controversial issue, is likely to be maintained to some extent soon.

Standing on the recommendation of a committee formed last year as per a Supreme Court ruling, the Ministry of Culture about a month ago directed the temple administration to take necessary steps to ensure transparency at the Hindu shrine.

The committee’s recommendations include paying salaries to priests of the main temple—an alternative that has never been adopted—before taking control of the temple treasury for the sake of its transparency. Upholding the recommendation, the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) formed a committee led by its Member Secretary Sushil Nahata to seek alternatives and negotiate with priests as to what would satisfy them in return for letting the offerings go into the state coffers.

According to Mod Raj Dotel, former secretary at the ministry and a member of the PADT subcommittee, provision of fixed salaries for the priests, though a viable option, has not been agreed to yet. “We are looking for as many alternatives as possible,” he said. “Transparency will be maintained at any cost and even the priests are positive about it. It is only that the model is yet to be decided. We are sure to reach a conclusion within three weeks.”

In a bid to examine the practice, and learn from big temples, in India, a team representing the committee left for the southern neighbour on Wednesday. Dotel said the practices of managing monetary offering in India would be analysed before deciding on an alternative. However, Ram Prasad Dahal, spokesman for the committee formed earlier as per the court ruling, said fixed salary would be the best idea to solve the problem.

“Before submitting our report to the ministry, we consulted with the priests. They were ready to accept the fixed salary system,” he said, adding that the pay scale had not been discussed. There are four levels of priests—Bhatta, Bhandari, Rairakami and Bishet—as per the operational rule of the shrine. The number of priests eligible for a regular pay would number 188—four Bhattas, 101 Bhandaris, 76 Rairakamis and seven Bishets, according to the committee. While four top priests are brought from South India for a four-year term, 101 Bhandaris are appointed on a rotational basis. A Bhandari gets to handle temple affairs for a period of one month and has to wait for 100 others for the responsibility again. Rairakamis and Bishets have the responsibility of managing logistics and materials needed for puja on the main temple premises.

Posted on: 2011-12-10 09:34

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