Was A Secret Tantrik Ritual Performed At Vijayawada Durga Temple? 

Vijayawada: The secret pujas performed at the Kanakadurga temple here last week kicked off a controversy as a section of purohits termed it as Tantrik rituals which are against the tenets of Aagamasastram, the tradition to be followed at Hindu temples.

The secret pujas performed at midnight on December 26 came to light only on Monday after a picture of a Tamil Tantrik conducting a ritual at the temple went viral. While traditionalists say conducting Bhairava pujas at a Hindu temple amounts to desecration, the temple authorities denied performing any such ritual.

The officials said a cleansing ritual was conducted in the temple on December 26 night in view of President Ram Nath Kovind's wife Savitha Kovind’s scheduled visit to the temple the next day. If that is true, why was it conducted midnight, which is against all Hindu traditions and why was the activity not recorded in the temple register, which is mandatory? The critics are also wondering why the Tamilian purohits were deployed to perform the ceremony?