Hindu priests are traditionally all drawn from the Brahmin caste but the judges ruled that the school's practice was discriminatory and ordered it to take students from all backgrounds.

'The supreme court judges ordered the Pashupati Vidhyapeeth to allow admission to all students, irrespective of their caste,' court official Hemanta Rawal told AFP on Thursday.

'The court has ruled that there should be no caste-based discrimination.'

Majority-Hindu Nepal outlawed caste discrimination in 1963 but the practice remains widespread.

In many rural areas, people from the lowest Dalit caste are banned from entering temples or drinking from communal wells.

The school, established in Kathmandu in 1974, takes children from as young as nine for instruction in Hindu rituals and Sanskrit, the language used for religious ceremonies.

It is linked to one of the world's biggest Hindu temples, Pashupatunath, which attracts thousands of pilgrims to the capital every year.

The case against the Pashupati Vidhyapeeth was brought three years ago by a lawyer who argued its admissions policy was unconstitutional and illegal, said Rawal.

School head Madhab Dhungel said he would respect the court's verdict.

'We were just following the centuries-old tradition of producing Hindu priests for the performance of rituals from high-caste Brahmins,' he told AFP.

'We will develop a new admission system from next year so that all interested students can apply.' -- AFP