http://bihartimes.com/Newsbihar/2008/Oct/Newsbihar26Oct1.html
Dalit appointed priest of Maniyari Mutt Patna, (Bihar Times): Jagdish Das, a Dalit poet and singer, was on Friday appointed the priest of the famous Maniyari Mutt in Muzaffarpur district. Accoding to the administrator of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts, Kishore Kunal, the Mutt was established in 1733 by a wandering mendicant from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, and since then a galaxy of illustrious Mahanths, including Mahanth Darshan Das, who set up MDDM College in Muzaffarpur and an ayurvedic hospital and Sanskrit College at Maniyari, have been associated with the Mutt. Kunal, who made sepecail effort in this latest appointment, said Muzaffarpur district has witnessed social tension arising out of discrimination. In 2005, the problem was so acute that even the then minister in the Rabri Devi cabinet, Ramai Ram, a Dalit, was not allowed entry into a Kali temple managed by villagers. It needs to be recalled that Kunal had appointed the first Dalit priest at the famous Hanuman Temple near railway station in Patna in 1993.
