BHUBANESWAR: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration is planning to use only organic rice for preparation of ‘Mahaparasad’.
This was informed by the temple chief administrator Arabinda Kumar Padhee while addressing the ongoing three-day Krushi Odisha-2025 in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
As a part of several reforms being brought in the management of Srimandir by both state government and SJTA, it has been proposed to use only organic rice for preparation of the Mahaprasad that is offered to the Trinity, he said. At present, normal rice is used in the temple kitchen which is produced using chemicals, fertilisers and pesticides, he said.
Padhee also appealed to vendors to stop selling ‘khaja’ in the name of Mahaprasad outside the shrine. “Khaja Mahaprasad is only sold in the Anand Bazaar of the temple. But outside the temple, some traders have been seen selling khaja in the name of Mahaprasad, which is completely wrong,” he wrote on X.
The temple administrator advised the vendors to refrain from doing so and not to mislead the devotees. “It is the responsibility and duty of all of us to respect the sentiments of the countless devotees who come to the temple. Exceptions in this will never be tolerated,” he said.