President Droupadi Murmu to offer prayers from Puri temple garbha gruha

BHUBANESWAR: President Droupadi Murmu will be granted access to the sanctum sanctorum (Garbha gruha) of Puri Jagannath Temple and can offer prayers to the sibling deities during her visit on November 10, her first since assuming the high office in July.
Access of devotees to the sanctum sanctorum is prohibited, barring the president, prime minister and Puri king. Even the governor and chief minister are allowed to pay obeisance by standing in the Jagamohan area, near the sanctum sanctorum. Only duty-bound servitors are allowed to perform rituals inside the sanctum sanctorum.
Murmu’s last visit to Jagannath Temple was on January 12, 2020 when she was serving as the governor of Jharkhand. “We have also requested the Puri district administration to seek permission from Rashtrapati Bhawan to enable the president to partake mahaprasad inside the temple. Since she is from Odisha, she understands the significance of eating mahaprasad at the shrine,” said Baidyanath Mohapatra, a servitor who accompanied Murmu to the temple and facilitated her darshan several times in the past. Murmu is likely to visit the royal palace of Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, the Puri king and chairman of Jagannath Temple managing committee, after offering prayers. The palace is barely 200 metres from the shrine.
In the preparatory meeting, the temple officials said they would abide by the protocol set by Rashtrapati Bhawan and ensure her smooth darshan. As per her tentative itinerary, she is likely to visit the temple around 12 noon and leave the shrine an hour later. The temple would remain out of bounds for devotees during the time she is there, a routine practice followed during the visits of the president and the prime minister. Shrine officials said the daily rituals of the deities would not be affected during the president’s visit.