Trouble at the temple: ban on Muslims a sign of India’s new intolerance

Bappanadu Sri Durgaparameshwari temple, Karnataka, India. Muslims were banned from its 23-day festival this year, devastating vendors who rely on the festival circuit to sell their wares. Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman/The Guardian

For 800 years, Bappanadu Sri Durgaparameshwari temple had stood as a symbol of India’s cohesive religious past. It is said that the Hindu temple, which sits on the bank of the Shambhavi River in India’s southern state of Karnataka, was built by a Muslim merchant, Bappa Beary, after a goddess came to him in a dream. The land to build the temple was donated by a local Jain ruler.

Over the centuries, its unique origins were regularly honoured and the annual festivals, celebrations and buffalo races that took place at Bappanadu temple were attended by Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jains alike.