Pravati Parida, the deputy chief minister of Odisha, wants to give the Lakshmi Puran, an Odia text written in the 15th century by Balarama Dasa, to every woman in the state. He wants to do this despite knowing that 30% of Odisha’s women are illiterate. Reading is a fundamental rights enshrined under Article 19 and under Article 21 and every citizen already has the right to seek out a book and read it. Reading is also a person’s choice and should not be imposed by the state, which has no business intervening either way.Nevertheless, 30 lakh copies of this book are set to be distributed, at a cost of crores of rupees to the exchequer. It is not hard to imagine a fair share of that amount being siphoned off before it reaches its avowed purpose.The development is just one symptoms of the deeper challenges facing Hindutva in Odisha – as well as the ways in which the ideology is trying to change the state and its people. Odisha is not a monochromatic society, but a resplendent mix of communities. What looks uniform from the outside, when seen from within, is even deeply divided. For example, the Dalit community in Odisha is not a part of the ‘mainstream’ and its members are confronting the world on their own terms.For example, Alekh Dharma (or Mahima Dharma), a tradition distinct from Hinduism, has a sizeable following in the state. Scholars such as Kunjabehari Das and L.K. Mahapatra have described the followers as neo-Buddhist. The rulers who built the Jagganath temple at Puri and organised Hinduism around it understood this distinction.Religious life was, therefore, organised in two spaces – the temple and the Bada Danda (grand road) outside the temple. But these are not just two separate spaces. They comprise two distinct worldviews, each standing face to face, each with its own spiritual and social tradition. The challenge for Hindutva is finding a reliable foothold within these traditions in Odisha. By circulating the Lakshmi Puran (with a distinctly elite-case provenance), it is hoped, Hindutva will find a way into the Dalit community.But circulating the Lakshmi Puran only serve to open a false dialogue with the Dalits. It cannot be seen as genuine, for a quieter ulterior motive appears to be at work, also targeting women – to convert them to vegetarianism – and this is being done one festival at a time. The month of Kartik in the Hindu calendar is celebrated as a time to avoid fish and meat, since it is when fishes breed in the fields, rivers and ponds, and people leave them untouched to allow their populations to grow.However, in the past, this tradition was followed more in its abstinence – I know of a village of 2,000 in which only one person could let go of the fish staple during the month – while all the rest, regardless of caste, consumed fish as before.Today, things are different. Most women and men abstain through the month of Kartik, thanks to the efforts of Hindutvadis.The Margashir month appears to be next in line, which has been quitely rebranded as the “Lakshmi month” and wrapped in the same limitations regarding diet. Each of these play a vital role in manufacturing a certain type of Hindu consciousness among the Odiya people.In truth, there is “Lakshmi” month in the Odia tradition. Lakshmi is not even an Odiya name and is borrowed from the north. What Odisha does have is Manabasa Gurubar, a festival built around measuring the wealth of its rice and millet harvests.For a century, the region’s elite castes paid Dalit labourers a single gauni of rice, barely a kilogram-and-a-half, for their labour. Then, as if to atone for the poor remuneration, they would bake cakes and share them with the community. The practice of underpaying labourers finally ended in 1990. (The cakes, sadly, have disappeared over the years.)At the heart of Mabasa Gurubar is the mana, the smallest unit of measurement. Women play an integral role in the ritual surrounding this day (and it is followed without intervention from the Brahmin community).Hindutva’s version of the festival, however, runs the opposite way. A Brahmin is summoned and must be paid for their services for every occasion.So when it comes to the Lakshmi Puran, too, the question arises: will this text reach people in its original form or will parts of it be quietly modified to innoculate the reader with a particular ideology?The move would not be unprecedented as other Odia spiritual texts, including Jagannath Das’s Bhagavata, have suffered the same fate. Give this track record, a potential tampering of Lakshmi Puran cannot be dismissed as mere paranoia.Radhakanta Barik is a retired professor of Indian Institute of Public Administration.