{"id":301,"date":"2018-01-31T12:33:48","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T12:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/?page_id=301"},"modified":"2018-02-28T12:40:51","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T12:40:51","slug":"the-temple-priests","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/worship\/the-temple-priests\/","title":{"rendered":"The Temple Priests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-2bd894dbf2e4bf2c4acf98ce4fbf94aa '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h3><strong>The Temple Priests<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_1014\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1014\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1014\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/priest1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"138\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1014\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two pujaris (priests) at a South Indian temple in Wembley. The main deity is Lord Shiva.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Each temple will have its priest or even a whole team. They often come from the <em>brahmana<\/em> community. As well as performing the regular worship, (<em>puja<\/em>, the <em>arti<\/em> ceremony, etc.) they may conduct special ceremonies such as various rites of passage, both in the temple and at people&#8217;s homes. Traditionally only men are allowed into the priesthood, though certain movements such as ISKCON also welcome women.<\/p>\n<p>Within the UK, trained priests were originally brought in from India, but certain organisations and<em> sampradayas<\/em> now train their priests locally. They are expected to follow certain rules and regulations such as following a vegetarian diet, and abstaining from intoxication and gambling. Traditionally many priests were learned and hence called &#8220;<em>pandit<\/em>.&#8221; They were expected to be knowledgeable in scripture and Sanskrit.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1013\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1013\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1013\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/priest2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"147\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1013\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some traditions allow women to enter the priesthood. Here an Indian lady at Bhaktivedanta Manor temple performs ritual bathing.<\/p><\/div>\n<h4><strong>Key points<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The temple priest is called the <em>pujari<\/em> (one who performs<em> puja<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>They are often called or named <em>purohit<\/em><\/li>\n<li>They are often addressed as <em>pandit<\/em> (or <em>pandit-ji<\/em>), out of respect for their learning<\/li>\n<li>They are usually <em>brahmanas<\/em> (by birth and\/or qualities)<\/li>\n<li>Priests are expected to follow strict rules regarding inner and outer purity in order to retain the sanctity of the temple<\/li>\n<li>Most are men but some groups accept women as priests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1015\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/priest3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"67\" \/>Most priests are <em>brahmanas<\/em>, whose other main function is education. <em>Brahmanas<\/em> are often called <em>pandit<\/em>, meaning &#8220;learned scholar.&#8221; Here a western-born <em>brahmana<\/em> tells the story of Rama and Sita to schoolchildren.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1013,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[67,94],"class_list":["post-301","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-puja","tag-pujari"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1012,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions\/1012"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}