[Stephen Gerringer]

Hey There, Captsunshine,

For some reason the image wasn’t coming through, so I used my admin superpowers to replace it with another (which I pulled off Wikipedia).

I’m curious about the Garba griha – who is allowed to enter the inner sanctum in Hindu temples?

In the Tabernacle, a tent constructed according to Mosaic specifications by the Israelites during their mythic 40 years wandering the wilderness, the sanctum sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, was where the Ark of the Covenant resided (the wooden Ark contained the Ten Commandments, inscribed by the hand of God atop Mt. Sinai, and a gold cover which served as the “mercy seat” for the divine presence). Only the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and that only one day a year – which doesn’t quite jibe with the fact the inner sanctum also contained a golden menorah consisting of 7 oil lamps that were never to be extinguished, so someone had to pop in on a regular basis. Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem (and successive temples on that site) was a more permanent version of the Tabernacle on a grand scale, but followed the same basic design.

In India, are regular adherents able to enter the Garba griha, or is that just for priests?