BHUBANESWAR: After facing criticism from several quarters and the opposition Congress demanding a clarification from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the delay in the Nabakalebara rituals, the Jagannath temple administration today said it will inquire into the matter.
Admitting delay in Bramha Paribartan, a key ritual of nabakalebara festival, chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Suresh Chandra Mohapatra told reporters here that he has convened a meeting of the servitors to find out the reasons for the delay in completion of the rituals.
"Since the ritual is conducted in a most secretive manner by some selective daitapatis (servitors), the temple administration has no control over it," Mohapatra said.
The senior most daitapati has been entrusted the job of monitoring the rituals. What went wrong inside the temple will only be known after a discussion with those servitors who were assigned the job of the Bramha Paribartan (transfer of soul from old idols to the the new ones), he said adding, action will be taken against those who are responsible for the delay.
Expressing displeasure over the delay in the conduct of rituals, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra (Congress) said the Chief Minister should explain what led to the delay.
Criticising the ruling BJD for the gross mismanagement in the nabakalebara festival, Mishra said the State Government has miserably failed in conducting the festival as per its schedule. While many of the infrastructure projects taken for the festival have remained incomplete, it failed to ensure timely completion of the temple rituals.
The nabakalebara festival in 1996 went on smoothly because the then chief minister J B Patnaik had visited the temple several times to monitor the preparation and progress for the festival, he said.
Coming down heavily on the Government, leader of the BJP legislature party Basanta Padna said the violation of the age old tradition of conducting ‘Brahma Paribartan' in the night has hurt the religious sentiments of lakhs of devotees of Lord Jagannath.
Coming in defence of the State Government, sposkesperson of the ruling BJD Samir Ranjan Dash said the government has no control over rituals in the shrine. There is no need for the Chief Minister to give statement on the issue as the government does not interfere in any matter of the temple.
Meanwhile, Gajapati King of Puri Divyasingha Deb, who plays an important role in the nabakalebara rituals, has clarified that he was in no way responsible for the delay.
“I was ready since afternoon of June 15 to go inside the temple premises for ‘Purnahuti'. When the call came from the temple, I immediately went there to perform my duty," he said.
