Puri: While devotees will be deprived of witnessing the Nagarjuna Besha ritual in the Jagannath temple here on November 27 this year due to the COVID-19 protocols, there is a possibility that they will be able to do so next year.
According to some members of the Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, the Nagarjuna Besha of the Lords will be held in November next year. However, they said that the exact date of the rare ritual will be known only after the publication of the new almanac.
This celebration of Nagarjuna Besha is special since it is observed only in those years where the ‘panchuka’ (the last five days of the Hindu month of Kartika) is observed for six days.
Talking to mediapersons on Tuesday, well-known scholar of the Jagannath cult, Durga Prasad Mahapatra said that the temple managing committee might have got the information after consulting the experts. “For further confirmation, we will have to wait for the new almanac,” he added.
It may be mentioned that the Nagarjuna Besha of the Lords was held consecutively for three years on November 26, 1966, November 16, 1967, and November 3, 1968, and consecutively for two years on November 26, 1993, and November 16, 1994.
