BHUBANESWAR: Like Shivaratri, Rukuna Rath rituals of Lord Lingaraj were also delayed by over two hours on Wednesday. While thousands of devotees gathered in Old Town to witness the annual Car Festival of the deity, pulling of chariot could not be started till evening.
While the Lingaraj temple administration and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had scheduled to start pulling of Rukuna Rath at 3.30 pm, it began at 5.35 pm and could move only 300 metres from Lingaraj temple till Badheibanka Chhak by 6 pm. The ‘Pahandi Bije’ ritual was scheduled from 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm but it started around 3.30 pm when bronze images of three deities - Chandrasekhar (the representative of Lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva - were brought to the chariot amid beats of gongs, blowing of conchs. Pulling of the chariot will be resumed on Thursday morning and taken to Gundicha Ghara at Rameswar temple, 2.5 km away.
Heads of servitor groups, who had on Tuesday announced not to cooperate with the temple administration for the festival, put the blame on Maharana servitors who were in charge of constructing the 35-ft-high chariot. Kamalakanta Badu, secretary of Badu Nijog said that the Maharana servitors handed over the chariot to them at 11 am on Tuesday which is why, ‘Ratha Paristha’, which should have been done by 4 am, was completed at 7.30 am. “All the subsequent rituals were delayed because of this,” he added.
Earlier, the sevayats had announced that they would not conduct the rituals as scheduled by the temple trust in protest against non-fulfillment of their various demands. They have been demanding the endowment commissioner to re-allot the land to sevayats that have been allocated entirely in the name of Lingaraj temple trust in the last few months and promulgation of the Lingaraj temple ordinance. They had delayed the lifting of ‘mahadeepa’ during Shivaratri by three hours owing to these demands.The Commissionerate Police had deployed 12 platoons of police to maintain law and order during the festival which saw a mammoth gathering.
Pitcher of water from Marichi Kunda sells for Rs 30k
Bhubaneswar: Small pitchers of water from the holy Marichi Kunda on the premises of Mukteswar temple were auctioned to childless couples on the eve of Ashokastami on Tuesday night. While the first pitcher of water taken from the Marichi Kunda was sold for Rs 30,000, the second one sold for Rs 15,000 and the third for Rs 8,000. A total 31 pitchers of water were auctioned this year.Servitors of the temple said the price was the record lowest this time as water from the tank used to be sold for lakhs of rupees in the previous years. They added that devotees still believe that the water can cure infertility in women if they bathed and drank it on Ashokashtami.