Rituals At Puri Jagannath Temple Delayed By 5 Hours; Know Why

Puri: Several rituals of the sibling deities at the Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri were delayed on Wednesday following a dispute between two groups of servitors.

Conduct of important rituals were delayed at the 12th century shrine on Tuesday night itself following a rift among the servitors belonging to Puja Panda and Singari categories of the temple.

Sources said wedding ritual of the Lords were to be performed on Tuesday on the occasion of Ekadashi but the two groups of servitors entered into a dispute. The rituals of the Lords got delayed by over five hours due to the dispute.

As a result, all rituals were delayed on Wednesday morning. Mangala Alati was delayed by 4-5 hours. Wedding ritual of the Lords, supposed to have been conducted on Tuesday, was also performed on Wednesday.

Following the delay in the conduct of different rituals, devotees visiting the temple expressed resentment over the style of functioning of the servitors.