Shankaracharyas and the Traditional Religious Sceptre, India

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Friday, September 10, 2010

LUCKNOW, INDIA : The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court has asked the Central government to consider that Shankaracharyas are permitted to carry a religious sceptre with them during air travel. A division Bench of Chief Justice F.I. Rebello and Justice S.N. Shukla, however, did not agree with the view that all the Hindu saints are permitted to carry the sceptre during air travel under the Constitution of India.

In 2005, a saint, Narendraji Maharaj, was stopped at Amausi airport from carrying the religious sceptre (dharmadanda) enroute to Mumbai. The sceptre was deposited at the airport by the authorities and it was returned when the flight reached Mumbai. But the saint had refused to accept it with the plea that it had been defiled in other hands.

The petitioner organisation, Hindu Personal Law Board, had raised the issue by moving a public interest litigation with a demand that saints should not be restrained from carrying the sceptre during air travel. Board’s general secretary Ashok Pandey pleaded that Article 25 of the Constitution entitled the saints to keep in hold the sceptre — considered a holy article and untouchable to others except the particular saint.