Puri: After a gap of 26 months, the Jagmohan of Shri Jagannath Temple was reopened for the devotees on Monday.
According to sources, the devotees who came from the Simhadwara (main entrance gate) entered the Nata Mandap climbing the sata pahacha (seven stairs) from where they entered the Jagmohan through Jaya-Vijaya Dwara and had the darshan of the Lords from the Bhitara Katha. As per the list of procedures prepared by the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), the devotees left the Jagmohan via the Beherana Dwara.
Though the SJTA, as per the directive of the Orissa High Court, had announced that the devotees would enter into the Jagmohan after the Sakala Dhupa ritual, the ritual was delayed by about five hours and accordingly the timing of the other rituals also got delayed. After all the rituals were completed at about 4.30 pm, the devotees had to wait for the Sagara Bije rituals of the Lord Satyanarayan. Finally, they entered into the Jagmohan at 5.10 pm.
Blaming the restrictions by the Orissa High Court on the entry of only Palia Sevayats inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, the servitors said there was inordinate delay in the rituals as the Palia sevayat, who had to perform the rituals inside the sanctum sanctorum, was desecrated. As the SJTA has not made any alternative measures to deal with such circumstances, the rituals were delayed.
However, the rituals were performed after the intervention of Puri Collector Arvind Agrawal and SP Ashish Singh.
