Rituals Halted At Lingaraj Temple In Odisha Capital Again Over ‘Paita Lagi Niti’

Bhubaneswar: Rituals at Lingaraj Temple in Odisha capital was once again disrupted on Monday evening following a dispute between two sections of servitors over the ‘Paita Lagi Niti’.

The two groups are Badu Nijog and Puja Panda servitors.

“The rituals have been halted since Badasinghara Besa yesterday. The dispute between the two servitor groups over offering ‘paita’ to the Lord has been going on since 2020,” supervisor of Lingaraj Temple Rajkishore Mohapatra told the media on Tuesday.

As per the temple record of rights, 27 pieces of silk threads (Paita) are offered to the presiding deity by Badu Nijog servitors. However, the Puja Panda servitors have been demanding that they be allowed to offer three ‘paitas’ while the Badu Nijog counterparts could offer the rest 24 sacred threads, which the latter argue as ‘unacceptable’.

The servitors blamed the the state government, Endowment Commission and temple trust board for the ongoing fiasco. “If the temple administration had issued an interim order on it then the Lords would have not gone without food,” they added.

No ‘bhog’ has not been offered to the presiding deity since last evening.

Notably, the Orissa High Court in 2012 had ruled that rituals in the 11th-century shrine cannot be stopped by anyone.