Lord Goes Without Food, Rituals Stopped At Lingaraj Temple In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Lord Lingaraj, the main deity of Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar, remained without food reportedly due to a dispute between two groups of servitors on Saturday.

According to sources, all the rituals of Lord Lingaraj were stopped after Mangal Arati in the morning due to the dispute between Pujapanda Nijog and Badu Nijog over ‘Adhibas’ puja. As ‘Abhada’ (cooked prasad) was not offered to the Lord, the devotees visiting the temple were deprived of it.

As per practice in the temple, Odhani Lagi, a ritual of offering ‘Odhani’ (scarf) to the Lord, is performed on this day. Before this ritual, Adhibas Puja of the deity is performed. This puja had been performed by both the Nijogs for a long time. All rituals are followed after the puja.

With the two Nijogs engaged in a dispute over the puja, other rituals have been performed without Adhibas Puja due to intervention of the temple administration for the last two years. But this year, Pujapanda Nijog insisted on doing the puja and stopped performing the subsequent rituals, leading Lord Lingaraj to remain without food.