BHUBANESWAR: Mahaprasad of Shree Jagannath temple at Puri cannot be sold online, asserted Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Monday.
While a number of online food delivery applications are already claiming to deliver Mahaprasad from Srimandir now, a few other organisations had recently proposed to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) for selling Sukhili Bhoga and Mahaprasad online so that it reaches devotees of Lord Jagannath worldwide.
Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, the Law minister said while the proposal is well-intentioned, the sanctity and spiritual value of Lord Jagannath’s Mahaprasad is unparalleled compared to prasad of any other temples in the country and cannot be treated like ordinary food product.
“The state government and SJTA have rejected the proposal to preserve the sanctity of the holy offering. Once the Mahaprasad is being carried to a certain place, either within the country or abroad, we are not sure whether the purity of Mahaprasad can be maintained or not. Hence, we cannot agree to such proposal,” he said.
Instead, Harichandan appealed devotees to come to Puri to partake the holy Mahaprasad of Srimandir. “As of now, there is no provision by the temple to sell Mahaprasad online. Neither does the SJTA give permission to anyone to do so. It does not endorse any food delivery platforms that claim to deliver Mahaprasad online,” the minister said.
He also appealed to all temples in the state not to sell their offerings online. The Suara Mahasuara Nijog also endorsed the minister’s views. They said that Mahaprasad is not being sold online and if anyone claims of delivering it, it is not from the Srimandir kitchen or Ananda Bazaar.
“In the past, a certain temple administrator had asked us to allow online delivery of Mahaprasad. We had outrightly rejected the proposal then because it does not adhere to the temple norms and the temple’s kitchen cannot operate as per people’s demands.
If one of us accepts the online demand for Mahaprasad and it is not ready on time, the only way to meet the demand would be cooking it outside the temple kitchen and delivering it. This is unacceptable. Only the sacred offering from temple kitchen can be called Mahaprasad and Sukhili Bhoga,” said a member.
A few years back, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration had warned against unauthorised online sale of Mahaprasad because its rights are reserved with the temple administration. It had then warned of legal action against anyone found selling Mahaprasad online.