Temples  

Karnataka minister HD Revanna visited as many as six temples in Udupi district alone on Sunday (July 14). The visit is seen as a move to propitiate Gods to help the coalition sustain
 

A youth who was trying to take a photo of the deity at the Kanchipuram Varadaraja Temple was allegedly beaten to death by policewomen who were guarding the sanctum sanctorum.
 

According to the FIR registered against the suspected ISIS sympathisers, they had conspired to carry out suicide attacks at temples, churches and places in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, where people gathered in large numbers.

The ruling AIADMK government has decided to turn to the Gods by organising pujas and yagnas on June 22 in all the major temples across Tamil Nadu. While deputy Speaker Thambidurai and former MP Jayavardhan were seen in the puja organised in Kurungaleeshwar Temple in Koyambedu, minister SP Velumani was present in Porur's Patteeshwar Temple.
 

Narendra Modi embodies India’s new developmental ethos at an economic level but also its new pride in its profound civilisation. He has captured both India’s glorious past and its vast future potential. He is at home in Shiva temples in Varanasi and Kedarnath and at the same time with the military throughout the country, and with technocrats from throughout the world

A group of rationalists demanded that the government should implement an anti-superstition law and stop promoting as well as encouraging superstitious practices like conducting a special puja for rains.

The Karnataka Muzrai Department has directed temples under its purview to conduct religious rituals (Parjanya Japa) to appease the rain gods as several parts of Karnataka have been reeling under the effect of drought without sufficient water to drink
 

Karnataka government under the leadership of Siddaramaiah had passed the anti-superstition bill. But ironically now, the Kumaraswamy-led Karnataka government has given special instructions to conduct special pooja in more than 30,000 temples spending Rs 10,000 for each temple to appease the rain gods!

The Muzrai Department in Karnataka has issued a circular to the temples under its limits, asking them to perform Parjanya, a ritual to appease the “rain god” after most districts in the state were declared drought-hit.
 

HD Kumaraswamy offered special prayers in the name of son Nikhil and father HD Deve Gowda in Bengaluru. Nikhil took the blessings of Goddess Chamundeshwari in Mysuru at 5 am, today. Revanna sought blessings for son Prajwal in Hassan temple, Karnataka.

Based on his astrologer Dwarkanath’s advice, Karnataka chief minister Kumaraswamy has asked temples falling under the Muzrai department to hold special pujas to propitiate the rain god. However, such a move has only invited criticisms from the BJP, which feels it is nothing but a red herring to cover up failed loan waiver promises

People of all castes and religions visit Saint Kapri Temple in Karwar. Liquor, cigarettes and beedis are the special offerings to the saint

The author of 'Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples' has done an outstanding job in sourcing her facts, and in putting them together into a cogent, coherent presentation. While Meenakshi Jain admits that the organisation of the book into chapters based on geography is unsatisfactory, I am not sure if any other organisation would have been significantly better

The Supreme Court clarification begs a converse question: If Hindus need to prove a temple was built of private funds, failing which its control will go to the government, does the highest court of the country mean that all the temples in the country were built by CPWD and PWD, which makes the government a claimant of those properties and, therefore, an arbiter of their rules?