40. Famously Refused entry into Sri Jagannath temple

Famously Refused entry into Sri Jagannath temple:

If one examines the history of the temple of Jagannath over the last few hundred years, they may be surprised to see who has been denied entrance, who has refused to go in, and who has been allowed: 

1. Kabir, the mystic poet and saint of India was born in 1389. When he came to Puri he was wearing a tagiyah, a muslim cap. Seeing this, the pandas would not allow him entry in the temple. That night Jagannath came to them in a dream and told them that they should allow him inside of the temple, and furthermore they should help him and respect him. The priests then went to find Kabir and personally brought him into the temple for darsana of Jagannath.

2. Guru Nanak came to Puri in 1508 with his muslim disciple Mardana. When they went to Jagannath's temple, seeing Mardana the pandas would not allow the disciple or the guru inside. The local tradition describes that Guru Nanak then went to the ocean at the place known as Swargadwar, where he sat down and prayed. Meanwhile, Mardana was hungry, and blamed Nanak for bringing him to a place where they were unable to enter the temple to get prasadam. In the evening, someone mysteriously appeared and offered them opulent food and drink in golden utensils. That same night the king of Puri had a dream that Jagannath had personally taken pasadam to a sadhu on the beach. The next morning when the priests went to wake Jagannath, they found that his golden plate and cups were gone. This created an uproar, and the king of Puri was informed of the apparent theft. The raja just smiled and set off in a procession to the beach. Arriving there, the king offered obeisances to Guru Nanak, who at that time is said to have told the raja, "Jagannath is not only the Lord of the Hindus and Puri. He is the Lord of everyone." The king then welcomed Guru Nanak and his followers to have daríana of Jagannath inside of the temple. From that day, Guru Nanak's followers, the Sikhs, have been allowed entry into the temple.

3. Lord Curzon was the British Viceroy of India from 1989 to 1905. Although famous for being one of the first Britishers interested in Indian geography, history and archeology," when he visited Puri in December 1900, he was denied entry into the temple of Jagannath.

4. When Mahatma Gandhi and his disciple Vinoba Bhave visited Puri in 1934 accompanied by an entourage of Muslims, Christians, and Dalits, the Puri temple authorities refused to allow them entry. Protesting this, Gandhi organized a march which he called the "harijana-padayatra" from the temple's Simhadwar gate. Gandhiji asked them, "Why should there be any difference between men in a temple of God?" 

5. Biswanath Das (1889-1984) was one of the authors of the constitution of India, and he also served as Chief Minister of Orissa in 1971-72. He was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi as well as a great supporter of the poor and oppressed. It is said that Biswanath refused to visit the Puri temple of Jagannath protesting against the denial of admission to non-Hindus.

6. Due to his caste as a pirali brahmin, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the Bengali Nobel Prize-winning poet, novelist, musician, and playwright was barred entrance from the temple of Jagannath in Puri.

7. The famous scholar, champion of the lower castes, and chief architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, was refused entry to the Jagannath temple in Puri when he visited there in July of 1945.

8. Although she was the Prime Minister of India and born in a Hindu brahmin family as the daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi was turned away from Puri's Jagannath temple in 1984 because she had married a Parsi, Feroze Gandhi. She had to suffice with a view of the temple from the roof of the Raghunandan Library across the street."

9. When Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the Crown Princess of Thailand, came to Orissa in 2005 she was denied permission to enter the temple of Jagannath in Puri due to being born in a Buddhist family.

10. In May of 2006, the Swiss citizen Elizabeth Ziggler donated Rs 1.78 crore (nearly US $400,000.00 at the time) to the temple of Jagannath in Puri. Although this was the largest single donation ever given in the history of the temple, the priests denied her entrance into the mandir because Ms. Ziggler was born in a Christian family.

11. On a brighter note, in 1958 American-born Faye Wright was allowed entry to the temple of Jagannath. Born in Salt Lake City in a Mormon family, she was later initiated by Paramahamsa Yogananda and received the name Daya Mata. When she came to Puri in 1958, desirous of going inside the temple, she met with the then Shankaracharya of Puri, Bharat Krishna Tirtha, who, impressed with her "Hindu qualities", recommended to the members of the Mukti Mandap that she be allowed inside. 

Daya Mata is considered to be the first "non-Hindu" to have officially been allowed entrance to the temple. However, in 1964 the Mukti Mandap went back to their traditional position when they denied entrance to several American members of the Ramakrishna Society.