Gaon- new info has surfaced about tonsuring and different Rabbanim are currently relooking at the topic- both here and in Israel.
The monk you quoted from is an intellectual who lectures at various universities. The “reform indians” lehavdil are quick to describe the tonsuring process as a “shedding of the ego” and all about “humility” and a “purification process” so their religion doesn’t sound barbaric and is westernized to make it palatable for Americans. This is actually not the belief of most indian pilgrims who tonsure. They believe that their idol loves hair, wants their hair and accepts their hair. The cut hair is not considered impure and some pilgrims will even bring hair in to the temple to place it in the Hundi (a container which contains money and valuables given as an offering to the AZ) inside the temple itself. The tonsuring hall is considered a holy place, many have images of idols inside and the tonsuring is not a purification process before entering the temple- it is its own distinct act of worship. If it was a purification process everyone would have to tonsure before entering the temple- and they are not required to do so. They have to bathe before entering the temple.
One of the largest temples in India is the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple located in Tirupati which is operated by the trust board Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). Most of the hair for the world wigs and extensions are sourced from this temple (over 12 million pilgrims tonsure there a year and about 40% are women- that’s a lot of hair). They have websites with TTD news and books available for anyone to read. They say (among many other indian temple websites) that the main religious reason for the tonsuring is the story Chacham stated previously- their AZ lost some hair when someone axed him on the head and another AZ gave her hair to replace it. Since that time anyone who tonsures their hair in Tirumala recieves the AZ blessings and all their hair is accepted by the AZ. There are seven sacred hills in Tirumaka and one of them is even named after this AZ that gave her hair.
Rav Dunner learned all this when he actually went down to India- his findings were correct which is why Rav Elyashiv ruled that this hair is forbidden to be used
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