Rituals Of Deities At Lingaraj Temple In Bhubaneswar Resume After 2 Days

Bhubaneswar: The ritual of deities in Lingaraj temple in Odisha capital, which were disrupted due to dispute between two groups of servitors for two days, resumed on Thursday.

According to sources, Puja Panda and Badu Nijoga servitors were engaged in the dispute over the ‘Paitalagi’ ritual on Wednesday. As a result, the practice of raising ‘Mahadipa’ atop the temple on the holy day of ‘Chaturdashi’ (14th day of Odia calendar) could not be performed.

‘Paitalagi’ is one of important rituals in the shrine of Lord Shiva. As a part of this ritual, the Lord is offered 27 pieces of silk threads which are known as ‘paita’.

Due to the dispute between the servitors, while other rituals of the deities could not be performed, the cooked ‘prasad’ for Lord Lingaraj could not be prepared. As the ‘prasad’ was not offered to the Lord, the devotees coming to the temple had to return without partaking it.

However, the dispute between the servitor groups was resolved after intervention of the temple administration and the rituals of the deities were resumed on Thursday, the sources said.