Patna,(BiharTimes): Thirty-five American women, said to be the followers of International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), performed pind-daan, the Hindu ritual performed by male descendants for the salvation of their ancestors.

Dressed in colourful saris and blouse these women from Chicago were led by their yoga teacher Ram Krishnan. They performed the rituals at three different ‘vedis’ (altars) at the Falgu river, Vishnupad temple and Akshay Vat. They received ‘suphal’ (acceptance certificate from the priest) and each of them offered Rs 1,100 to the panda (priest). The priest's aide received Rs101 per head.

The rituals were conducted by Ranjit Lal Pathak, a Gayawal Panda.

On the issue of non-Hindus and women performing pind-daan, a ritual reserved for male descendants of dead Hindus, Pathak said Hinduism was flexible enough to adopt anybody who professed to follow its way of life and as such, the origin of these women can not come in the way of their desire to follow Hindu rituals.

Entry of non-Hindus is banned in the Vishnupad temple but these women were allowed on account of their convictions and it would have been wrong to shut the temple door on them on account of accident of birth, the panda told the Times of India.

On the issue of women, the panda said Sita had performed the pind-daan for salvation of King Dashrath, her father-in-law. As such, women can not be deprived of their right for reasons of gender bias.
There is a separate non-Hindu gate at the temple and non-Hindu visitors entering through this gate can not go beyond a point, far away from the sanctum sanctorum.