PURI: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has directed the Dattamahapatra sevayats of Srimandir to perform the ‘banakalagi’ (facial) ritual of the Trinity on Wednesday.A meeting in this regard was held between Dattamahapatra sevayats and SJTA here on Tuesday.
Official sources said the sevayats have been asked to conduct the ritual on Wednesday failing which, strict disciplinary action will be initiated against them. The SJTA will be forced to adopt alternative arrangements to conduct the ritual.
Banakalagi ritual has not been conducted in the temple since Niladri Bije this year. While the disruption was initially attributed to the scarcity of ‘kasturi’ required for Banakalagi, it was later found that the ritual was stopped due to a dispute between servitors and SJTA over the selection of the day on which it should be performed. The sevayats had stuck to their demand of conducting the ritual every Thursday as per the temple records. But the ‘niti’ is being conducted on Wednesdays as per the decision by the temple managing committee in 2018. The SJTA reasoned that other rituals will be delayed if the Banakalagi is conducted on Thursday.
Amid the stalemate, the SJTA had last week served show cause to Dattamahapatra Nijog over disruption in the Banakalagi ritual, seeking a reply within four days. However, as the reply was not satisfactory, the nijog members were directed to conduct the ritual on Wednesday.