[GOTFIVEONIT]

Devotees bathe in the hot water Picture:Prashant Ravi

Challenge over Hindus-only hot spring

By Amarnath Tewary
Rajgir, Bihar

"Entry of Muslims is prohibited by the order of the Patna High Court."

That is the sign that greets bathers wishing to wash in the waters of a hot spring in the town of Rajgir in the Indian state of Bihar.

It is a law that dates right back to the days of the British Raj.

And now state lawmakers want the country's Supreme Court to review the law.

The story began in 1929 when a case was lodged in a local court over whether non-Hindus had the right to enter the spring complex.

Three years on, in July 1932, the court ruled in the favour of the Hindus.

The next year, a group of Muslims appealed against the judgement.

But in 1937, the two British judges, Chief Justice Sir Courtney Terrell and Justice James, rejected the plea in the state's High Court, saying that the water at the Garam Kund (hot water pit) was exclusively meant for the Hindus.

"It is surprising that this discrimination has been allowed for so long," Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar told the state assembly recently.

Now the state's elected lawmakers have urged the state government to challenge the order in the Supreme Court.

"It is wrong to prohibit the entry of any community into a hot spring," lawmaker Mudrika Singh Yadav says.

But the chief of the Hindu temple attendants at Rajgir says they will not allow the scrapping of the judgement.

"We will oppose the government move tooth and nail," he says.

[Serendipity]

ewww, that looks nasty ...why would anyone wanna bathe from there anyway?

[Songbird]

Can we have the photo removed?

We shouldn't really be displaying pictures of people's genitals.

[Musashi]

Asallamu 'alaikum wa rahmatulLahi wa barakatuh

I never even noticed anything was showing until you mentioned it, actually.

Seconding the removing, or at least, linking and warning about it.

[Timbit]

I don't see any genitalia, but that man is so skinny.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

i dont see anything either. i dont think even think he is fully naked.

[Jamroll]

Wow. Some of you must have magnfied vision. I can barely see anything.

I think it's just his loongi. I've not heard of people going naked. Everyone wears loongis normally.

Yeah, it's a loongi. Let's have no more talk of his... loongi.

[ChotooMotoo]

We have Muslim Only Mecca, they can keep their dirty hot spring.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by ChotooMotoo

We have Muslim Only Mecca, they can keep their dirty hot spring.

but that's not the point though, mecca is a holy place, this is just some fountain. this smacks of aparthied and segregation. if a muslim doesnt want to go there, it should be because of his or her own choice, not because the law prohibits it.

[ChotooMotoo]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

but that's not the point though, mecca is a holy place, this is just some fountain. this smacks of aparthied and segregation. if a muslim doesnt want to go there, it should be because of his or her own choice, not because the law prohibits it.

So why are Hindu's fighting it so bad if it doesn't hold some kind of religious significance?

[Arabesque]

Public baths are un-hygienic. I second the ban on Muslims. Cleanliness is from Imaan.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by ChotooMotoo

So why are Hindu's fighting it so bad if it doesn't hold some kind of religious significance?

everything is of religious signifigance to them. even shiva's penis is holy to them. they run up the mountains of kashmir to pray to some giant iceacle. im not making this up. why should we give in to this nonsense?

they demolished babri masjid, because they claimed that a grand huge temple to their idol ram, once stood on its spot. i mean where does this stop? they have already targeted 300 of our mosques all over india for demolition as it is.

[Jamroll]

Traditionally speaking, many Hindus regarded us as unclean because we eat meat, etc.

My grandma told me that way back in the day, before partition, some Hindus wouldn't eat from a Muslim person's house, and if a Muslim person came to their house, they would have a special plate and cup they would have for them to use, which they wouldn't use themselves. Apparentely there were even separate water fountains because Muslims were regarded as unclean.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by Jamroll

Traditionally speaking, many Hindus regarded us as unclean because we eat meat, etc.

My grandma told me that way back in the day, before partition, some Hindus wouldn't eat from a Muslim person's house, and if a Muslim person came to their house, they would have a special plate and cup they would have for them to use, which they wouldn't use themselves. Apparentely there were even separate water fountains because Muslims were regarded as unclean.

That's perfectly alright!

It only means there are more options on the menu for Muslims

[Jamroll]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

That's perfectly alright!

It only means there are more options on the menu for Muslims

Lol, well, I have Hindu friends, and no one has ever refused to eat from my plates or drink from my cups. I'd like to think that was left back in the old days. Or maybe it still does exist in some forms in India such as this story of the hot spring.