The Kudroli Gokarnanath Temple here is set to break the conventional practices this Diwali by allowing over 5,000 widows to offer pujas in the temple premises, authorities said.
The decision was to bring women belonging to all communities to the mainstream of the society. Over 5,000 widows would be taking part in the festival, temple Managing Trustee and former Union Minister B Janardhana Poojary said.
They would also provide saree, kumkum, jasmine and a one-rupee coin to the women implying freedom from widowhood, he added.
The temple chief also asked all families to allow widows to offer poojas in their households.
The women priests would be brought to the temple in a silver chariot to perform poojas for the festival, Poojary said.
The temple recently grabbed nation's attention after the authorities appointed two women from Scheduled Caste communities as priests of the temple, thereby going against the conventional practices.
