Daily Pioneer
NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 15, 2003: The administration of Deogarh, about 215 miles from the state capital, has taken the Baba Vaidyanath Shiv temple online so devotees can seek the Deity’s blessings without actually visiting the shrine. “People living in other parts of the country and abroad requested me to put the temple online as has been done with the famous temple of Tirupati (in Andhra Pradesh). It will help devotees,” said Shailesh Kumar Singh, Deogarh deputy commissioner. This has some temple priests upset. “The district administration has done wrong by us,” complained Durlabha Mishra, general secretary of the Panda Dharmarakshi Sabha, an association of priests. “They are gradually depriving priests of their right to conduct rituals.” The administration says it has done nothing wrong. “Only people in faraway places will offer puja on the internet. Devotees coming to the temple will still seek the help of priests to offer puja,” said Kaushal Kishore, a magistrate. The shrine receives about three million devotees every year.