BANGALORE: Complaints by local worshippers have prompted a crackdown on scantily clad foreign tourists at the 15th-century
Virupaksha Temple in Hampi, a
Unesco world heritage site. The temple located on the banks of the Tungabhadra, about 350km from Bangalore, imposed a dress code last week. “The new rule is to create a more positive image of the temple and maintain the sanctity of the place. In addition to being a tourist destination, the temple is also a place of worship,” a senior endowment department official in Bangalore said. Some locals were recently outraged after some foreigners, out of ignorance, went to the sanctum sanctorum wearing garlands. "They’d place the garlands before the deity and that angered local worshippers,” said Vinayak Pandit , a senior priest at the temple. Locals also objected to tourists going near the sanctum sanctorum wearing short skirts, shorts and skimpy dresses. There were initial hiccups, but now the code seems to be working. The temple placed boards at the entrance of the temple which read --‘ From this point, shorts skirts and bare shoulders are not allowed’ . The guards drew aside men in shorts and women with uncovered shoulders and short skirts and told them they were not dressed appropriately . Some women were obliged to buy shawls and scarves from nearby hawkers, while men bought trousers. When foreign tourist traffic dwindled, the temple office decided to give a white shawl which they could drape before going in. `We’re not against foreigners, but their dress and conduct in the temple is highly objectionable and therefore the management decided to impose restrictions," said Vignesh Jaiteerth, a member of temple committee . "Foreigners are cordial and don't argue. But we always have problems with domestic tourists," he added. Most tourists were taken aback by the rule. “In spirit, it’s a good rule but it may a wrong message to tourists,” said Venkatesh Murthy, a trader at Hampi Bazaar. He said when the temple management informed the tourism department about the code, the department didn’t raise any objection. "This will not impact tourist flow. In fact, there are dress codes at religious places in India and abroad. We cannot violate the sanctity of temples in the name of tourism," said V N Krishna, tourism executive of the
Karnataka tourism department. ELSEWHERE IN INDIA Men cannot enter Kerala's Guruvayur temple wearing a shirt. In Jamia Masjid, New Delhi, visitors have to adhere to a dress code
VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE Virupaksha Temple, known as Pampapathi temple, is a Shiva temple. It predates the founding of the Vijayanagar empire . The temple has a 160-foot high tower at its entrance. The temple complex also contains shrines of Hindu goddesses Pampa and Bhuvaneshwari