Rituals delayed over Pujapandas’ protest

PURI: The daily rituals of Lord Jagannath and Goddess Subhadra were delayed by around two hours as Pujapanda servitors staged a protest on Sunday over acceptance of donations by devotees.
According to reports, the temple security staff stopped the Pujapanda servitors from accepting ‘dakshina’ from the devotees inside the chariot cordon.

Sources said the Pujapandas, who were seen accepting ‘dakshina’ from the devotees, were initially stopped by the temple security officer.  Soon, regular police personnel were called in to enforce the Supreme Court judgment which clearly states that the servitors cannot receive donation or ‘dakshina’ from devotees.
The servitors, terming it their traditional right, stopped the daily rituals as a mark of protest. The deadlock ended after the intervention of senior district administration officials.

Earlier on Sunday, the pulling of Lord Jagannath’s chariot was resumed at around 9 am. The deities would remain in the chariots where they would be offered cooked ‘bhog’ and would enter the sanctum sanctorum of Gundicha temple on Monday evening.  

Meanwhile, incessant rains and thunder storm threw life out of gear in the town. Badadanda, the venue of the car festival, was flooded causing inconvenience to the devotees.