LUCKNOW, INDIA, JULY 14, 2002: Recently the Union Human Resource Development Ministry felt that the standards of conducting Hindu rituals were declining. The answer, the “Karma Kand Kriya,” a three-month training course for students aspiring to become priests conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan, opened to Hindus, including the Dalits (“outcastes). “I had 24 Dalit students in a class of 30,” said Avdesh Kumar Shukla, an instructor in Unnao near Lucknow. “They were all deeply interested in the religion. If caste Hindu society moderates its attitude, conversions will not take place.” Instructors from Banaras Hindu University and Sanskrit Vidyapeeth trained 2,500 aspirants-more than half of them Dalits and women-in 60 districts of Uttar Pradesh. “The Indian way of life has high regard for rituals and we wanted to preserve this in the spirit in which it was intended,” said Dr Sachidanand Pathak, chairman of the Sanskrit Sansthan. “Nothing in the scriptures stops casteless from becoming priests. When we are born, all of us are casteless. According to the Vedas, only a person who dedicates himself to knowledge becomes a Brahmin.”
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