Column | Feet of fortune
The HinduIt is a practice mostly seen in South Indian Vishnu temples. Since the devotee cannot enter the sanctum sanctorum, which is kept ritually isolated, and touch the feet of the icon within, the deity’s feet are symbolically placed on the devotee’s head. Thriving on inequality Temple lore invariably includes stories of devotees not permitted to enter temples because they belong to ‘impure’ professions. Having seen the deity for the first time inside the temple, Thirupan Alwar describes him beautifully from foot to head. Modern readers, though, may argue this indicates the inferior position of women, since we are conditioned to see the body in hierarchical terms: the head is greater than the feet; the right side is more sacred than the left; the upper body is purer than the lower.
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