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Dress code for devotees at Jagannath temple in Puri from Jan 1
SJTA chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das said devotees should not wear clothes such as shorts, ripped jeans and skirts
Bhubaneswar: From January 1 next year, devotees will have to wear ‘decent’ clothes to enter the Jagannath temple in Puri town, a senior temple official said on Monday.
“Devotees should wear traditional clothes while visiting Jagannath temple. They should not wear clothes such as shorts, ripped jeans and skirts. Dress code has been introduced at several shrines across the country,” said Sree Jagannath Temple Administration, or SJTA chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das.
The dress code will be strictly implemented from January 1.
A second temple official said the awareness campaigns to ask devotees to wear “decent clothes” in the temple will start from Tuesday. “The Jagannath temple police and the temple servitors would keep an eye on anyone wearing indecent clothes,” the official added.
The move comes two years after the temple administration introduced a dress code for servitors from October 20, 2021. As per the dress code, all the servitors have to wear dhoti, towel, and patta while performing puja.
The Daitapati Nijog, a servitor’s body in Puri Srimandir has been demanding a dress code for the devotees visiting the temple, complaining that many came to the temple in shorts that hurt religious sentiments of other devotees. The Nijog demanded that the devotees who arrive here in western attire should have to change to enter the temple.
Senior servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra said Puri Jagannath temple is an important religious site among four dhams. “Thousands of devotees visit Puri for the darshan of Lord Jagannath. Therefore, implementing a dress code for all devotees is essential to uphold the temple’s spirituality and sanctity,” he said.
Dasmohapatra said in several temples in south India, women devotees go to the temples wearing salwar and saree.
