Priests oppose gold plating of Kedarnath walls

The gold plating of Kedarnath's walls is being done after a Shiva devotee from Maharashtra volunteered to make an offering of gold for the purpose

A section of priests in Kedarnath have opposed the gold plating of the walls inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Himalayan temple saying it amounted to tampering with its centuries-old traditions.

Pilgrimage priests (teerth purohits) opposing the gold plating are incensed that the use of big drilling machines in the process are damaging the temple's walls.

The four walls of the famed temple were covered with silver plates which have been removed to replace them with gold plates.

The gold plating of the temple's walls is being done after a Shiva devotee from Maharashtra volunteered to make an offering of gold for the purpose and his proposal was accepted by the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) with permission from the State Government.

“The gold plating is damaging the temple walls. Big drilling machines are being used for the purpose. We cannot tolerate this tampering with the centuries-old traditions of the temple,” a pilgrimage priest named Santosh Trivedi said in Kedarnath.

However, the priests are divided on the issue with some senior priests favouring the renovation work currently underway inside the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

Senior priest at the temple Shrinivas Posti and former president of Kedar Sabha Mahesh Bagwadi said the temple is a major centre of Sanatan faith and gold plating of its walls is in keeping with the Hindu beliefs and traditions.