Devotees May Face Legal Action for Touching Deities

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Bathing Altar ready for grand bath of Deities
[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

Jun 08, 2017 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA —

The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration in Puri on Thursday warned of legal action against devotees for touching the Deities during Debasnan Purnima ceremony on Friday.

Debasnan Purnima is a key annual ritual ahead of Rath Yatra where the Deities are given grand bath on an altar in the temple. Rath Yatra is on June 25 this year. In 2014, the Orissa High Court ordered the state government to ensure devotees do not touch the Deities following recommendation by Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.

Barricades installed for smooth movement of devotees
[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

"Violation of the order amounts to contempt of court and criminal offence. We released a poster in four languages - Odisha, Hindi, English and Bangla - requesting devotees not to touch the Deities on the bathing altar. Only on-duty priests will be allowed to touch the Deities to perform the rituals. The 2014 decision is binding," temple's chief administrator Pradeep Jena said. Jena dismissed rumours that the temple body will allow family members of priests to touch the Deities.

The temple administration and police drew flak during Debasnan Purnima last year when a group of priests allowed devotees to touch the Deities. Soon after the Deities were brought to the bathing altar, facing Grand Road, priests virtually laid siege to the area. All hell broke loose around 10 pm when the priests forcibly took their near and dear to the Deities.

On the pretext of touching Their Lordships, some unruly priests and devotees also robbed the Deities, defacing the faces of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra. Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingha and Shankaracharya had slammed the state government for the chaos and mismanagement.

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

"This time we will ensure the ceremony passes off peacefully. Like previous years, CCTV cameras have been installed at different places to keep a hawk's eye on troublemakers," SP (Puri) Sarthak Sarangi said.

Meanwhile, Puri Shankaracharya will not offer prayer on the bathing altar on Friday in the wake of a group of priests demanding restriction on the access of his disciples to the bathing altar. The Puri seer's spokesperson Manoj Rath said the top religious leader cannot attend Debasnan Purnima as he is in Uttar Pradesh. "Guruji could not attend the ceremony on some occasions in the past as well due to his absence in Puri," Rath said.