Servitors Turn Down Guv’s Suggestion On Foreign Devotees, Can Britain PM Enter Puri Jagannath Temple?

Bhubaneswar: Even as Governor Ganeshi Lal created a stir with his suggestion to consider allowing foreigners into Jagannath Temple, which is out of bounds for non-Hindus, Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati said that Britain Prime Minister Rishi Sunak can visit the 12th-century shrine in the Pilgrim Town.

“You must be aware that the Britain Prime Minister is a Kashmiri Brahmin. He along with his wife can pay obeisance at Jagannath temple,” the Shankaracharya said during the Gangasagar Mela, which is held at the confluence of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal and considered the world’s second-largest human congregation after Kumbh.

Speaking at a public consultation ‘Odisha Vision – 2036’, organised by Odisha Economics Association in the city on Thursday, the Governor requested Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb and sevayats of Jagannath Temple to allow foreigners into the shrine. “If a foreigner can meet the Puri king, Shankaracharya and servitors, why cannot he or she be allowed to catch a glimpse of the deities in the temple? The government should also consider this. Some people may appreciate my idea and some may not. But I think foreigners should be allowed into the temple,” the governor had said.

The servitors of the temple, however, have turned down the suggestion, which they say goes against the age-old tradition. The deities come out of the temple once every year during Rath Yatra and non-Hindu devotees offer prayers to the deities on chariots, they opined.

Servitors had also strongly opposed when the Supreme Court in 2018 asked the Jagannath Temple management committee to ‘consider’ allowing non-Hindus entry into the 12th-century shrine.

Working president of Mukti Mandap Biswanath Mishra told a national daily that the temple has its own norms and only Shankaracharya can take a call on this.

While refusing to comment on the issue, BJP leader Jayanarayan Mishra on Friday questioned why Buddhists from other countries are not allowed entry into the temple. He cited the example of the Thailand queen, a follower of Buddhism, not being given permission to have darshan of the sibling deities.

Senior Congress leader from Jatni Suresh Routray said the age-old tradition cannot be violated. “The Governor may have given a personal opinion but the rules of the shrine cannot be changed,” he said.