BHUBANESWAR: The days when epic serials like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata brought life to standstill appear to be coming back soon for Orissa. The legends of Lord Jagannath _ the State’s most loved and presiding deity _ have been made into a teleserial named `Shri Jagannath’, a collection of anecdotes from various mythological sources for entertainment channel `Tarang’. An offspring of Orissa Television limited (OTL), the 24-hour entertainment channel has been maintaining a countdown for the serial, for a month now. Bijay Kandoi’s Bidisha Craft has produced the series while the script is by Bijay Mishra. Composer Manmath Mishra has rendered music for the first Oriya periodic epic serial. Much in the news last year for health reasons, veteran director Hara Pattnaik teamed up with Himanshu Parija for direction. The serial would be telecast every Sunday at 9 a.m. beginning June 28. Unveiled on June 25, considering the auspicious time of the almanac when Lord Jagannath is paying a visit to the Mausi Maa Temple, the series is based on material from `Skanda Puran’, `Sarala Mahabharata`, `Deula Tola’, `Shrimad Bhagabata’, `Dadhyata Bhakti’ and `History of Orissa’. Also help of research scholars in Sanskrit and Jagannath culture has been extensively taken for the first time, to provide the `authentic anecdotes’ from the scriptures so that the viewers will be benefited. ``The effort is definitely worth appreciating because a serial can easily let younger generation create interest in Jagannath culture. Hopefully, the Oriya version should be successful so that Hindi and English versions can follow,’’ said Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb while inaugurating the serial. On the occasion, Vice-Chancellor of Tirupati Sanskrit University Prof. Harekrushna Satpathy said the `saga of the Lord’ will definitely spread the message of universal brotherhood among all people across the nation at a time, when violence has become part of our everyday life. ``We have to change people’s psychology and social character through the message of Lord Jagannath as Puri is perhaps the only place in the entire world where the deities in a temple remain as brother and sister,’’ he added. Executive chairman of IMFA Group and industrialist Bansidhar Panda narrated his own `experiences of divine interventions’ since his birth and how he got the `values of life’s teaching process’ from those moments. Managing Director of OTL and Ortel Communications Ltd (OCL) Jagi Mangat Panda, MP Baijayant Panda and senior OTL and OCL officials were present, among others.