Pedanda

There are records of bitter village conflicts in which Pande families were denied the right to bury their dead in the village cemetery because the families did not obtain holy water from pedandas, and the villagers said the unpurified bodies would contaminate the cemetery.

The only people who are conversant with all the rituals of agama Hindu are the high priests, or pedanda, men and a few women of the Brahman caste who spend years studying the complex theology.

Instead of the temple having an annual festival, services are carried out every new and full moon day and on other holy days, and the presiding pedanda, after performing a ritual to make holy water, gives a sermon, yet another innovation and departure from traditional practice.