Julian Parker and his temple in Bhadrak. Telegraph picture

Bhadrak (Orissa), July 14: When he came to India 13 years ago, Julian Parker was just another wide-eyed American teenager who wanted to explore the spiritual side of India. A high school graduate from Los Angeles, Parker landed in Puri to visit Jagannath temple, his first port-of-call.

The young American?s first encounter with divine India was not what he had expected or hoped for. As Parker tried to enter the shrine, the priests at the gates prevented him from doing so. They said foreigners like him were not allowed to step inside.

Parker, son of a radiologist father, walked away from the temple, peeved. Vowing to fight discrimination, he decided to stay back in India.

May 2006 and Parker proved that his decision was not one taken in haste. Work on a 35-ft Jagannath temple in Kuansh village near Bhadrak town got over two months ago, bringing to an end years of planning and hard work by the man who shunned the good life back in the US to pursue his goal in distant Orissa. The village is around 160 km from Bhubaneswar.

Idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra have been placed in the temple and anybody ? irrespective of race or religion ? can take a look at them inside the shrine. Devotees have started visiting the temple and the 31-year-old believes more will come.

After the Puri eye-opener, Parker set up base in Bhadrak but also travelled extensively to holy places across the country. He also visited his homeland to meet his family.

?The idols are the exact replicas of the Gods in the Puri temple. But the temple is open to everyone unlike the one in Puri,? said Parker, who calls himself Janhava Nitai Das after becoming an Iskcon devotee.

His wife of five years, Tapaswini Sahu, is also an Iskcon devotee from Bhadrak.

The gleaming temple was built at a cost of Rs 26 lakh, of which Rs 12 lakh came from Parker. Devotees and well-wishers from India and abroad chipped in with the rest.

The American now spends most of his time chanting Hanuman Chalisa at the temple and reading the Bhagvad Gita and Ramayana.

The Bhadrak mission over, Parker now wants to challenge the custom of not allowing non-Hindus entry into the Puri temple. ?Jagannath is the father of everyone and we are his sons. Don?t we have the right to enter our father?s house? It?s criminal for the priests to ban the entry of foreigners,? said the American.

?It?s a tragedy that the temple does not allow non-Hindus inside its premises while the Hindu devotees of Jagannath continue to sing the songs written by Salabega, a Muslim devotee of the Lord. It?s sheer hypocrisy. Hindu scriptures regulate the policy of the Puri temple. But who are the people interpreting the scriptures? The priests, who have no right to prevent a person from visiting the temple,? he argued.

Parker claimed that he had become a Hindu through the Arya Samaj when he tried to enter the Puri temple 13 years ago.

?Yet the priests refused to allow me inside. The priests are actually harming the religion more than anyone else. If they don?t change this practice, more and more people will leave Hinduism,? he said. ?I believe the Jagannath temple in Bhadrak will play a role in ending discrimination.?

Radhakrishna Sahu, a local youth, said: ?It?s a Puri temple near our house.?