Thiruvananthapuram : Acting tough, the Travancore Devasom Board (TDB) Saturday removed an official of the famed Sabarimala temple for violating its customs and ordered an atonement ritual.
These decisions were taken at a special meeting of the TDB here following violation of the famed temple customs and rituals by the Sabarimala temple priest (melshanti) who allowed his 12-year-old daughter to enter the temple complex on the Western Ghat ranges, four km uphill from Pampa in Pathanamthitta district, in violation of the ban on the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years.
Various TV channels in the last week of April aired the news that the daughter of the Sabarimala temple priest was spotted in a crowd of devotees going up to the temple, located on a hillock.
Devasom Minister V.S.Sivakumar ordered a probe into the episode and at the meeting of the TDB, which looks after the Sabarimala temple, it was decided to remove the temple’s executive officer Mohan Das and carry out an atonement ritual.
“The atonement ritual would be held on May 14 and 15 and all the expenses for it would be met by the melsanthi, P.N.Narayanan Nampoothiri,” TDB president M.P.Govindan Nair told reporters after the meeting.
The meeting also asked TDB commissioner to conduct a detailed probe into the episode and submit its report in a month. Depending on the, further action might follow, said the TDB.