Caste No Bar: Madhya Pradesh To Introduce Diploma In Priesthood

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to commence a diploma course in priesthood, the Hindustan Times has reported.

The one-year diploma course to be called “purohityam”, will be rolled out in July and will be open to candidates from all castes, the report said.

The candidates will be taught basics of priesthood, rituals, mantras as per Hindu tradition, said P R Tiwari, director, Maharishi Patanjali Sanskrit Sansthan, the nodal agency for promoting of yoga and Sanskrit in the state.

The aspirants will also be taught “sanskaar” literature (grihya sutras), theory of “sanskaar”, 16 Hindu “sanskaars”, said Tiwari adding, the course is a first-of-its-kind in the state.

The basic qualification needed is that the candidate should have cleared grade 12.

However, not everyone is happy with this policy of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. A section of Brahmins had held protests in May last year against the proposal to train people from scheduled caste community as priests.