India, June 14 -- Several state governments have misused their authority to utilise temple resources coming from public donations for a variety of needs

Hindu temples have in effect been enslaved by the rulers for over a millennia. Many were destroyed during the period when the Mughals from Central Asia ruled much of Bharat i.e. India. When the British came, they brought practically all important and not so important temples under the control of the colonial authorities. Each temple that survived the Mughal onslaught had a lot of land owned by it, so as to make the temple self-reliant. Indeed, several temples regularly gave meals to worshippers. The colonial authority took over much of the land, leaving each temple bereft of its predomin...