Uttarakhand Temples Ban Entry Of 'Scantily-Clad' Women: Dignity Over Devotion?

Did god ever say worship only when the body is fully covered? Or did god put a condition in front of women that prayers are accepted only when they are fully dressed? Atleast this is what reflects from the actions taken by temple authorities in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Dehradun districts. The respective board collectively has banned the entry of disciples not wearing appropriate clothing. 

Uttarakhand Temples Enforce Dress Code

Reportedly Mahant Ravindra Puri, secretary of the Mahanirvani Panchayati, confirmed the ban on the entry of scantily-clad men and women into the Daksh Prajapati Mandir (Haridwar), Tapkeshwar Mahadev Mandir (Dehradun) and the Neelkanth Mahadev Mandir (Rishikesh). According to Puri, only women who have their bodies covered up to 80 percent can enter these temples. To say so, again this is about women covering their bodies and nowhere regulating the dress code for men. Why men are so obsessed with the way women dress up?

Puri also stated the reason behind the ban. According to him, people entering the temples, who are skimpily dressed make one feels ashamed to even look at them. The question is if there is so much discomfort, why should one look at the skimpily dressed person, especially when you are on the spiritual journey and the focus is god, and not who is wearing what. Why this moral policing over clothes? How does someone's clothing hurt the religious sentiments of devotees? How do women's clothes reflect a disregard for their sanctity? Respect comes from the heart, from beliefs and principles, and not from the amount of cloth one is wearing. Generally, people believe women wearing short clothes provoke desire in men, such bans are guided by these assumptions. One needs to understand it is not women who need to dress up so-called decently but men who need to work on their attitude and bring piousness in their own eyes. 

Religion provides freedom, it advocates liberation, then why do the preachers of religion want to put bans on the simple thing as clothing because they are women and exert control over them? This is not the first time an Indian temple has enforced such a dress code. Earlier, Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, banned devotees wearing anything except a dhoti-kurta or saree from entering the sanctum of the temple. The Madras High Court directed temples to refuse entry to people wearing jeans, bermuda (shorts), skirts, or tight leggings, this was a regressive move.

Usually, priests in the temple wear dhoti and the upper body is hardly covered, can that be marked as indecent? However, women wearing tank tops or tight jeans seem disregardful and vulgar. If the Constitution provides freedom to have personal choices, to speak whatever one wants, and wear what one likes, then why such bans are still established? The dress code cannot be the scale of how spiritual, religious, and devoted the person is. More than dressing, one’s faith is important. So, why the act of worship requires a dress code? 

Also, one needs to understand in India, temples are not just places of worship but also hold historic importance. People from different cultures and faiths visit such places, so enforcing a dress code will only discourage them. There is no harm in following the dress code at a place of worship, but bringing the dress code in place because it is awkward for other devotees is wrong. 

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