The A.J.T.P.T.U.

Between the gods and the faithful who worship at the 100 Jain* temples of Ahmedabad in western India stand 600-odd priests. Theirs is a hard and holy life; they say ritual prayers, guard temple treasures, abstain from smoking and drinking, sup before sundown (for lamps lure moths to destruction), and wear white cloth pads over their noses and mouths (lest their breathing destroy gnats or germs). Their wages never exceed $5 a month.

The temper of a secularist age is penetrating even to Ahmedabad: some Jain priests have recently been seen to remove their masks in public, to eat and drink in restaurants and to use lamps without thought for the safety of moths. Last week things went even farther. One hundred of the boldest priests met and announced that, since intercession with the gods is industrial employment like any other, they had formed themselves into the Ahmedabad Jain Temple Priests Trade Union. From temple committees they demanded: an $8 minimum monthly wage, one day off a week, seven days' paid sick leave a year, three weeks' paid vacation annually, and the payment of a lump sum to a priest when he retires, or to his family if he dies in harness.

The rich Jains who compose the temple committees were appalled. Complained one: "How can priests be dedicated to poverty if they go about forming unions and making wage demands?" Gasped another: "Who will perform puja [ritual prayer] before the gods when the temple priests are having their day off?"

* An ancient sect of dissenters from Hinduism made up largely of well-to-do Indians.

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