Srimandir reopens for all after four months

PURI:  The long wait for darshan of the Trinity came to an end as the doors of Sri Jagannath Temple were opened for all on Monday.

Around 30,000 devotees had darshan of the deities on ‘Ratnasimhasan’ while adhering to guidelines and standard operating procedure issued by the temple administration. Devotees waited in queues since early morning to show their vaccination certificate and RT -PCR negative report at the kiosk set up for the purpose. They were allowed to enter the shrine at around 7 am through seven barricaded rows stretching for 1 km from the temple’s main gate. The servitors performed usual rituals like ‘Mangal Arati’, ‘Mailum’, ‘Tadaplagi’ and ‘Abakash’ and offered ‘Gopal Bhog’ to the deities before darshan began on the day.

Temple’s Chief Administrator Dr Krishan Kumar said devotees were excited to have darshan of the deities after a gap of four months. “Srimandir had remained closed for devotees since April 23 this year due to the pandemic. It is heartening to see that devotees are keen to follow the standard operating procedure before entering the shrine,” he said.

Dr Kumar said the silver plating of the two main doors of the shrine has been completed. Earlier, eight worn out doors were replaced with new ones. The newly constituted temple managing body meeting is scheduled to be held on August 26 under the chairmanship of Puri King Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb. As per a temple release, the shrine will remain closed on Wednesday for ‘Banaklagi’ (makeup) ritual of the Trinity. It will also be closed at 2 pm on Friday for the deities ‘Rahurekhalagi’ ritual.