SAMBALPUR: As devotees are prohibited from entering temples due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Samaleswari Temple Trust Board has decided to stream ‘darshan’ of Goddess Samaleswari live during Nuakhai. The agrarian festival of Western Odisha will be celebrated on Sunday. Head of the temple trust board Sanjaya Baboo said every year thousands of people from across the region throng to the Samaleswari temple to get a glimpse of Maa Samaleswari on the occasion of Nuakhai.
“Devotees have not been able to enter the temple since COVID outbreak. However, we decided to offer a vitual ‘darshan’ of the presiding deity on Nuakhai”, he said. Nuakhai rituals of the Goddess in the sanctum sanctorum will be live streamed on the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/maasamaleswaritemple) of the temple. Every year during the harvest festival, over 50,000 devotees from across the district and neighbouring districts of Bargarh, Jharsuguda and Sonepur come to the temple to seek blessings of the Maa Samaleswari.
This year, although all Nuakhai rituals would be followed in the temple, devotees will not be allowed to enter the temple for COVID safety. Also, ‘Anna Bhog’ will not be distributed on Nuakhai in the temple this time. “We appeal people to stay safe and celebrate the festival with their families at their homes. We have made all the arrangements to facilitate darshan of Maa Samleswari online. The rituals will be streamed from 9:15 am on Sunday,” Baboo informed.
Meanwhile, all preparations for Nuakhai rituals at the temple have been completed. While the temple has been given a fresh coat of paint, new ornaments were procured for the deity. The deity will be offered newly harvested crop during the ‘lagna’ between 9.35 am and 9.50 am at the temple on Sunday.