VRINDAVAN, India (RNS) — When the protests against a state government plan to redevelop a world-renowned Hindu temple began in May, Varsha Otwani, a 64-year-old homemaker, joined the women’s chorus, donning her sequined red veil, lining her eyes with kohl and smearing her hands with henna.
The 19th-century Banke Bihari Temple, with its black stone idol of Lord Krishna embodying masculine and feminine energies, draws tens of thousands of devotees every year to this northern Indian town. Vrindavan’s residents, largely devotees of Krishna, hold the site in great reverence — not least Otwani, who hails from a family of hereditary priests at the temple.
Last May, the government of Uttar Pradesh, where Vrindavan is located, announced that a newly founded trust will oversee a $5 billion development at the temple, which includes the construction of a corridor aimed at improving infrastructure and easing crowds. In early August, India’s Supreme Court stayed the use of temple funds for the corridor, putting the project on hold, but proposed an interim committee to manage the situation.
Defenders of the status quo fear the government will find a way around the stay, as Uttar Pradesh officials did in the holy city of Varanasi, in the nort …