New Delhi: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has decided to start a ‘training centre’ for priests in Ayodhya to cater to temples abroad. Another such centre will be opened in Faridabad to meet domestic requirements, VHP president Alok Kumar told ThePrint, adding that these centres are meant to address concerns that many ‘pujaris’ and ‘archakas’ are not well-versed in Indian scriptures and mantras required in their daily work.
While one institute will be devoted to English-speaking countries, another will cater to India, said Kumar. The move comes in the wake of a “great demand for such priests in Hindu temples abroad”, he added.
“There are a number of Hindu temples in foreign countries and at times many pujaris are not well-versed in chanting mantras or explaining the relevance of certain scriptures to our youth in a language they can understand. To begin with we will be starting two institutes, one in Ayodhya and one in Faridabad,” said Kumar.
He added that elementary computer knowledge will also be a part of the curriculum, and asserted that the idea is to train the priests so they can not only answer questions posed by devotees but also “inspire” people to visit Hindu temples regularly.
To begin with, the VHP will start with a batch of 30 students who will be essentially drawn out from Vedic Vidyalayas run by “VHP and other like-minded bodies”.
This story was originally published in theprint.in. Read the full story here.
