ASI gives oral permission for pooja at Bharatmata Temple in Devgiri Fort

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

In a noteworthy development, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI, Aurangabad Circle) gave one-hour permission to perform pooja at Bharatmata Temple in Daulatabad (Devgiri) Fort on Saturday.

The priest Rajendra Kanjune’s son performed the pooja between 8.50 am and 9.50 am today. However, the priest has demanded to extend the time as one hour is insufficient.

Earlier, in response to the application of Kanjune, the circle had mentioned that the Fort is classified into the category of Non-Living Monuments. Hence any kind of pooja or religious rituals in any temple at the Fort will be a violation of the heritage rules.

The leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve questioned how could the Fort be listed as a Non-Living Monument. Before ASI’s custodianship, the pooja at Bharatmata Temple, Ganesh Mandir, and Sant Janardhan Swami Mandir (on the Fort campus) was done regularly.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Chandrakant Khaire visited the circle office on Friday. During the discussion with ASI superintending archaeologist Dr Shiv Kumar Bhagat, he sought permission for pooja. Uddhav Sena’s tehsil chief Balasaheb Gaikwad, deputy district chief Raju Rathod, deputy tehsil chief Vishnu Jadhav, and various organisations also demanded to lift the ban on performing pooja. Accordingly, the ASI gave the oral permission for one hour.

The priest of Bharatmata Temple, Rajendra Kanjune

said, “ Earlier, after performing pooja in the morning, I used to wait from 8 am till the evening. Now, one-hour oral permission has been given for pooja. We will demand an increase in the time duration. I along with my wife and son performed pooja. One hour is also given for performing pooja in Ganesh Mandir and Sant Janardhan Swami Mandir.”

We will perform ‘Abhishek’

District President of Brahmin Purohit Sanghatna, Subhash Muley Guruji said, “ The one-hour time allotted for the pooja is sufficient. We will be going to the Bharat Mata Temple for Abhishek in two to three days. Discussions regarding the pooja will be held with the Archaeological Survey of India officials.”