Running Tussle Over Galta

Two Vaishnavite sects claiming ownership over a venerated temple and math (monastery), a beleaguered mahant (head priest), decades-long litigation and charges of mismanagement of temple property - Rajasthan's famous Galta Peeth temple is caught in a vicious temporal tangle.

- Rohit Parihar

Just 12 km from Jaipur and nestled in the lap of the lush Aravalis, the complex of institutions known as Galta Peeth evolved as a revered Vaishnav centre by the 15th-16th centuries. The peeth has traditionally been controlled by the Ramanuja sect of Vaishnavism. The roots of the controversy go back to 1943 when Ramodaracharya was appointed mahant by the Jaipur state. After registering the peeth - as the law demanded - under the then-new Rajasthan Public Charitable Trust Act in 1963, he also made an allowance for the mahant's post being a hereditary one-an act many deem to be against temple rules. Ramodaracharya further changed the trust rules in 1999 and made it family-managed, ensuring his descendants would have control over the temple property. After his death in 2006, his son, Avdheshacharya was anointed mahant. This was contested in court and demands made for the government to take control over Galta.