Puri To Host 3,000 Fasting Women Devotees During Kartika Month

Puri: With the holy month of Kartika beginning from October 13, the Puri district administration held a preparatory meeting to provide all facilities to ‘habisyalis’ (women who observe fast during the month) here on Friday.

Notably, the habisyalis stay in Puri for a month and visit Jagannath Temple every day while observing the fast.

According to officials, it was decided in the meeting that accommodation will be provided to 3,000 habisyalis this year from October 13 to November 12.

The district administration has earmarked three places in Puri for this purpose. Of these, 1,500 habisyalis will be accommodated at Narendra Kona Habisyali Centre, 900 at the Railway Tourist Complex and 600 at Municipality Kalyan Mandap.

Habisyalis interested in availing the accommodations can apply online up to October 11. They can also apply directly to the district tourist office.

For the habisyalis, the ritual of ‘Dwaraphita Niti’ (opening of the temple door) will be held daily at 4 am during the month of Kartika and ‘Mangala Alati’ will be conducted at 5 am.

The ritual timings will be followed from October 9 to November 11.