After more than 18 hours of debate, the food cooked for approximately 7,000 devotees at Puri's Jagannath Temple was thrown away on Friday. A number of priests had insisted the prasadam (food blessed by the Deity) be discarded because it had been defiled by the entry of an American non-Hindu into the temple. The mahaprasad that went to waste was estimated to be worth around US $6,800.

The throwing away of such a huge quantity of food coincided with police confirming that the US national, Paul Roediger, had managed to gain entry through a temple priest. On Thursday, priests suddenly noticed a white man near the sanctum sanctorum.

The Puri priests are infamous for barring entry to Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in 2005.

"People enter in groups and there is always the possibility of someone sneaking in," said temple administrator, Suresh Mohapatra.

Police detained Mr. Roediger, a 59 year old engineer from New York, for five hours for allegedly violating the age-old temple tradition which bars non-Hindus, especially those who consume "objectionable food," from entering the shrine. Puri police said no case has been registered because there is no law under which Mr. Roediger can be charged.

"Since there is no law to punish Roediger, the temple administration asked him to pay $5.00 for the mahasnana (purification ritual)," the police said. Temple authorities called Roediger's actions "an act of desecration."

Unaware of the rules banning entry of non-Hindus, the American, who is interested in temple architecture, walked into the temple's inner "sanctum sanctorum unwittingly. Roediger expressed regret but also blamed temple authorities, noting that no guard had prevented him from entering the area.

The decision upset a U.S.-based Hindu reform organization, which said it was appalled by the waste.

The Navya Shastra organization said it reflected "a medieval mindset at a time and place where there are thousands of poor and hungry people."

The incident has focused renewed attention onto controversial religious and cultural practices that survive in India despite its stated commitment to secular, democratic principles.

"Low-caste" citizens and "untouchables" (dalits) are still denied entry to various temples or forbidden to use water wells, in contravention of constitutional guarantees.

Dr. Rashmi Patni, director of the Gandhian Studies Centre at the University of Rajasthan, argues that such customs go against the tenets of Mahatma Gandhi who he said stood for human dignity and equality irrespective of caste, sex, creed or color and fought for temple entry for dalits.

"Like in every society, social discrimination in India is born out of centuries' old legacy," she said. "It is similar to the problem and differences among blacks and whites in the U.S. and cannot be eradicated merely by enactment of constitutional statutes."

Patni said, however, that the growing affluence of the middle class, increasing literacy levels and the spread of information technology was making issues of caste, gender and religion of little importance to younger Indians.

Sawai Singh, an activist espousing Gandhi's ideas, said successive Indian governments have failed to curb the menace of religious intolerance, because politicians prefer to pander to their respective constituencies.

"If punishments for social discrimination and depravation were to be severe, many of these evils would get eradicated automatically," Singh argued.

Ironically, the Jagannath temple is immensely popular among pilgrims, because unlike some centers, it does not discriminate between higher- and lower-caste Hindus.

Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was once turned away from the main gates of the shrine, as she was deemed to be non-Hindu, having married outside of the religion.

One news source incorrectly reported: "Nonetheless, the temple does not allow entry to non-Hindus or foreigners - with the exception of Western Hare Krishna devotees, who throng to the temple each year in large numbers."