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Jagannath temple reopens after a gap of 9 months with conditions
From January 3, a negative test report for Covid-19 has been made mandatory for entry into the temple.
After a gap of more than 9 months, the Jagannath Temple in Puri reopened on Wednesday morning with the family members of the temple priests getting the first chance to see the Lord.
After the door of the sanctum sanctorum was opened at 4.59 am, rituals like Mangal Alati, Mailam, Tadaplagi, Abakash Niti were performed following which the family members of the temple priests queued up inside the 12th-century shrine.
Overwhelmed by the chance to enter the temple, several women devotees broke down. “I can’t describe how I felt after seeing the Lord after so many months. I cried. I have never seen the deities so beautiful,” a woman devotee told a local TV channel. Another devotee said she never felt so relieved in her life. “All these months I wanted to see the Lord. Now I am sure the pandemic would end,” she said.
The temple was closed since March 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even the annual Rathayatra of the deities in June and Nagarjuna Vesha, held after a gap of 26 years, last month, were held without the presence of common people.
Puri district collector Balwant Singh said the servitors and their families will be allowed darshans till December 25. Families of servitors have been asked to carry the health insurance card. In case of unavailability of the health card, they can furnish other identity cards to gain entry.
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“From December 26 to 31, rest of the residents of Puri town will get the chance to visit the temple. Puri municipality officials will visit each ward and issue a token in the name of the head of the family. The district administration will decide the timing of the visit of the ward residents. Locals have been asked to visit the temple only during the permitted time slot. The temple will remain closed on January 1 and 2 to avoid the surge of visitors. From January 3, people from outside Puri can visit the temple with all precautions,” he said.
From January 3, a negative test report for Covid-19 has been made mandatory. Entry of children below the age of 10 years and elderly persons above the age of 65, have been prohibited.
Meanwhile, the process of opening of other important temples of Odisha such as Bhubaneswar’s Lingaraj temple, Aradi’s Akhandalamani temple, Puri’s Sakshigopal temple and Jagatsinghpur’s Sarala temple has started. The Lingaraj temple would open its doors to the devotees from December 27.
