BHUBANESWAR: No DJ music or firecrackers with high decibels will be permitted during this year’s Sital Sasthi Yatra of Lord Lingaraj. The festival is scheduled to be celebrated on May 24 and 25 this year. The decision was made by officials of the Lingaraj temple trust, police and district officials at the preparatory meeting for the festival on Monday.
Presided over by the ADM-cum-temple executive officer Dilip Mohapatra, the meeting was attended by heads of three Nijogs of the temple who agreed to conduct all the wedding rituals on time and in a smooth manner.Only a few light-emitting crackers will be burst at a designated site during the wedding procession of Lord Lingaraj and the return journey of the deities from the Kedar Gauri temple.
While the wedding will take place on May 24 at Kedar Gauri temple, the deities will return to Lingaraj temple the next day. It was decided that the wedding procession will begin from Lingaraj temple at 11 pm on May 24 and the wedding will be over by 3.30 am. The divine couple will return to Lingaraj temple the next day between 9 pm and 10 pm.
This year, the idol of the deities will be carried to and from the temples in police cordon. Police will keep an eye on people coming to participate in the procession in inebriated condition. Around 200 people - both servitors and devotees - will take part in the procession.