Nepal's king to keep royal rights at Indian Hindu temple

Nepal's monarch may soon by reduced to a commoner _ but there is one place he will always be king.

Officials at the Jagannath Temple in eastern India, one of Hinduism's holiest sites, said Wednesday that political events in Nepal, where the country's soon-to-be communist rulers plan to abolish the monarchy, would have no bearing on King Gyanendra's special privileges at the shrine.

Tradition holds that Nepal's monarchs are reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu, and they have long been treated as divine at the Jagannath Temple, allowing them to perform rituals on the temple's sacred alter with the assistance of high-ranking priests.

That won't …