PURI: The Daitapati servitors of Jagannath temple, on the fourth day of the Banajaga Yatra, left the open air theatre at Konark on Wednesday evening for Shankareswar temple at Narua village located about 17 km from Konark, on the bank of river Prachi.
The team reached Sankareswar Shiva temple at about 10.30 pm where they put up for the night. They would reach their final destination, Deuli mutt, on Thursday.
Walking barefoot on the road in sultry weather, some of the team members were left with sore feet. They were treated by the doctors accompanying them at Konark. Many of them were limping but were determined to keep up with the schedule.
They will reach Deuli mutt on Thursday and visit Maa Mangala temple on Friday. At the temple they would perform yajna and offer prayers to the Goddess and from there they would return to Deuli mutt.
At the mutt they will stay for 11 days and wait for the divine dream of the Goddess in which they would be informed about location of the four Darus (neem trees with holy symbols on them).
After getting the divine instructions they will divide into four groups and leave in search of the neem trees.
The journey of Banajaga team began on March 29 after priests of Jagannath temple handed over four ‘ajnamalas’ (permission of the deities) to the four chief servitors of the four deities Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Sudarshan.
Earlier, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, first servitor of Lord Jagannath, gave the go-ahead for the Banajaga expedition by performing the ‘gua-teka’ ritual at his palace. Rajguru of the Gajapati handed over the ‘sankalp Gua’ to the daitapatis as a symbol of entrustment for the religious job.Elaborate security arrangements have been made by the police for the smooth journey of the team members.
Chief Administrator of the temple Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said the location of ‘Daru’ would be announced one by one. First for Sudarshan, followed by Devi Subhadra, Lord Balabhadra and in the end for Lord Jagannath. Earlier, he had urged the Banajaga team not to disclose the locations of ‘Daru’ before they submit their report to the temple administration.