UDUPI: The administration of Sri Mookambika Temple in Kollur clarified that a ritual with the name ‘Salam Mangalarati’ does not exist in the official records of the temple.
“As per official records, the puja performed in the evening is called Pradosha Mangalarati and it is not Salam Mangalarati,” an official said.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had recently demanded the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department to stop the ‘Salam Mangalarathi’ that is believed to be performed to commemorate the visit of Tipu Sultan at Kollur temple.
RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat also demanded that the ritual in the name of Tipu be discontinued.
On Tuesday, VHP divisional secretary Sharan Pumpwell thanked the temple administration for cancelling the Salam Mangalarati ritual at the temple.
“We had requested the temple administration to change the name of the ritual. We welcome the temple administration’s response to our request that they have renamed the ritual as ‘Pradosha Mangalarati’,” Pumpwell stated in a press release.
He said the temple is one of the 108 powerful Hindu Peetas. Offering mangalarati in the name of Tipu, who is a fanatic having been accused of killing thousands of Hindus and demolishing hundreds of Hindu temples, will desecrate the temple’s sanctity.
However, colloquially, Salam Mangalarati, is believed to be a special puja to commemorate the visit of Tipu Sultan in the latter half of the 18th Century.
