Varanasi, March 20 (BDNEWS)-A controversy has broken out here over pop singer Parvati Khan reportedly having offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during Mahashivratri, according to wire services.
The administration and Kashi Vishwanath Temple management committee were not sure whether she had offered prayers and performed other rituals like yagna in the temple last week.
In Mumbai repeated attempts to contact the singer failed with her aides saying she was not well and not available for comments.
However, the reports have triggered protests from the local unit of Shiv Sena, which has flayed the singer for "hurting" the sentiments of the Hindu community.
"Khan had not taken permission of the temple management with regard to her desire to perform puja in the Kashi Vishwanth Temple," the chief executive officer of the temple R O Pandey said.
However, he did not rule out that she could have performed prayers in the precincts as an ordinary devotee.
"There are more than several thousand devotees who throng the temple everyday...It is not possible to identify a particular individual," he said referring to Khan.
Terming the Trinidad and Tobago born singer's reported entrance into the temple as "reprehensible", district Shiv Sena president Ajay Chaube said "she had not only violated the practice that only a Hindu was entitled to offer prayers at the temple".
The temple management had in the past not granted permission to the singer to perform rudrabhishek, yagna or any other ritual in the wake of opposition by Shiv Sainiks.
BDNEWS/1046 hrs
