Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai denies link to 'drunk guard'

Two days after her visit to the Brahma temple created a row, the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai broke her silence to clarify that none of her guards had consumed alcohol and then escorted her during her visit and puja within the sanctum sanctorum at Pushkar.

But the priests have gone ahead with cleansing rites at the temple premises. Ash's visit to Pushkar on Thursday turned controversial when the priests at the temple alleged that during her visit to the shrine, one of the actress' bodyguards was inebriated.

This, they claimed, hurt religious sentiments of the pilgrims and the people of Pushkar. Ash spoke up after the local and national media picked up the story about the drunk bodyguard and the fact that her security detail allegedly roughed up some pilgrims.

Reports quote Ash as saying that the entire episode has upset the entire Rai family and that she wanted to clarify that none of her bodyguards were drunk.

"In fact, she does not even know the person who is alleged to have consumed alcohol and was present at the temple while she performed puja," the report quoted Ash as saying.

Ash said that both her bodyguards had immense faith in Lord Brahma and in fact it was upon their insistence that the trip to the temple was made so the question of their integrity does not arise.

Meanwhile at Pushkar, the umbrella organisation of the temple's priests held a cleansing 'yagna' at the lake ghats on Saturday and the Brahma temple priest also announced that the idol of Brahma would be cleansed with Ganges water.

Priests performed a yagna invoking the divine power to give "wisdom" to Ash to atone for the sins by her bodyguard.

A yagna for Aishwarya Rai's 'wisdom'

Priests performed a 'yagna' in the holy town of Pushkar invoking the divine power to give ‘wisdom’ to the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai to atone for the sins by her bodyguard who had entered the Brahma temple there allegedly in an inebriated condition.

The priests of Sriteerth Purohit Sangh, Pushkar Trust, performed 'Sadbudhi Yagna', reciting ‘Sanit Paath’ and praying for ‘wisdom’ to the actress so that she atones for the incident by tendering an unconditional apology, Trust President Ladoo Ram Sharma said.

He rejected a statement issued by the actress through a 'khadim' of Ajmer dargah clarifying that her bodyguard was not drunk. He said the matter will not end until Ash apologises.

One of the three bodyguards who accompanied Ash to the Brahma temple where she offered prayers on December 28 was allegedly in an inebriated state.

The priests of the temple have lodged a protest against it with the Trust and are demanding an apology from her.

Aishwarya Rai's bodyguard drunken in temple

One of the Aishwarya Rai's body guards allegedly desecrated a temple in the Hindu holy town of Pushkar by entering drunk and roughing up worshippers who tried to approach the actress, media reports said on Friday. Alcohol and meat are banned from Pushkar, a Hindu pilgrimage center surrounding a small lake in the desert of Rajasthan and home to the only temple to the Hindu god Brahma. Ash denied her guard was drunk.

Aishwarya Rai is being hounded!

The Rais are extremely amused and somewhat exasperated by media reports claiming that a clarification has been issued about the supposedly drunken bodyguard's supposedly high-handed conduct at the Pushkar temple last week when the actress paid a visit there.

"No such clarification has been issued," laughs a very dependable source, "Because no incident happened at the Pushkar temple. The entire episode is as fabricated as the priest at the Madurai temple who's supposed to have seen Ash and Abhishek exchange garlands.

We challenge the priest to come forward and please tell us when the two exchanged garlands. The Pushkar incident is again an example of the hounding that Ash and her family have been facing throughout 2006."

Explaining the true picture isn't easy. But a close friend of Aishwarya tries her best to put the matter into a perspective. "Look, Ash has been visiting temples and dargah for years now. It's her habit to visit religious places wherever she is shooting.

Since Ashutosh Gowariker's schedule in Rajasthan for Jodha-Akbar was over, Ash decided to visit the temple and dargah before leaving the place. She has been doing the same during all her outdoor shootings. Why is such a big deal being made if she visited a dargah or a temple this time?

Why attribute hidden meanings and agendas to such simple and gestures? Ash tried to keep her visit to the holy places as low-profile as possible. What can she do if everything she does gets blown out of all proportions?'

There's much distress among the actress' friends and family over her constant media-association with Abhishek Bachchan. Ash's close friends feel she has been hounded throughout 2006.

"There's more to her than whom she's seeing. Ash is keeping quiet. That's her nature. But she's far from amused by all the speculation about her life," says a source very close to Ash.

"Even the issue about someone sending her money in an envelope from South Africa was blown out of all proportions. She had no knowledge of the man or his money. She did whatever was required by the law.

And now nearly two months have passed. When the authorities are aware of the identity of the person who sent her the money why hasn't anything been done to question him?"

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