Amid disruptions, Jagamohan finally opens after two years

BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited opening of the renovated Jagamohan, a hall facing the sanctum sanctorum of the Puri Jagannath Temple, was delayed for nearly five hours on Monday owing to disruptions in the execution of the daily rituals. This further led to an inordinate delay in the preparation of the mahaprasad as well. Till the time of the filing of the report, the mahaprasad was not ready for sale to devotees.
In compliance with the April 10 Orissa high court order, the Jagannath temple administration on Sunday announced to open the Jagamohan on Monday after the completion of the Sakala Dhupa ritual, which usually gets over by 12pm every day. But the Sakala Dhupa, which followed a host of other rituals, was completed at 4.40pm after which the temple body opened the Jagamohan at 5.10 pm, much to the chagrin of devotees.

The Jagamohan is a key structure of the shrine as devotees can catch a close glimpse of the deities from here. Though the sanctum sanctorum accords the best view of the sibling deities, the shrine body had stopped devotees from entering the area following a directive of the Orissa high court. The Jagamohan had been shut for devotees since January 2016 due to conservation work being carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

"We will ensure that the daily rituals are completed on time in days to come," Puri collector and deputy chief administrator Aravinda Agarwal told media persons. Several devotees expressed their displeasure over missing the chance of a close darshan of the deities. "We caught a glimpse of the deities from a distance. But we were eager for a close darshan. Due to the delay, we could not get mahaprasad either," said Kunal Mukherjee, a devotee.

Servitors said the delay happened due to restrictions imposed by the HC. It had clearly said only those servitors, with duty of rendering service near the deities on particular days, are authorised to enter the sanctum sanctorum. "This morning, a duty-bound servitor took ill. On normal days, an absentee servitor would ask another priest to perform his service," said servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra, adding such delays will happen unless all servitors are allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum.