Ayodhya, April 30 -- letters@hindustantimes.com

: A nearly 300-year-old tradition was broken at Ayodhya's famous Hanuman Garhi temple for the first time in nearly 300 years when the chief priest (Gaddi Nasheen) Mahant Prem Das stepped out of the premises on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya on Wednesday and visited the Ram temple in a procession after taking a ritual bath in the Saryu river.

According to the centuries' old tradition of the Hanuman Garhi temple, it is mandatory for the presiding Mahant (chief priest) to never leave the premises, which is defined as an area of 52 bighas, for the rest of his life after being ordained to the position of Gaddi Nasheen.

But on Wednesday, riding on elephants, horses and camels, hundreds of Naga...