PURI: Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb on Thursday conducted a meeting of officials of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, managing committee members and collector to discuss the rituals ahead of Parikrama project inauguration on January 17.
“In consultation with Rajguru it has been decided that the three-day yajna by 108 Sotriya Bramhins will be organised on the Aishanya Kona at 7 am of January 15,” said Gajapati. As per tradition, Gajapati will be the ‘karta’ of the yajna and offer ‘purnahuti’ on the final and concluding day of yajna on January 17 in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The servitors should stick to the prescribed schedule of daily rituals after which the chief minister will dedicate the Srimandir Parikrama to devotees amidst chanting of Vedic hymns at all entry gates of the Srimandir. Simultaneously hundred Brahmins will perform ‘Sankeertan’ around the temple Parikrama, he informed.
Large screens will be put on display at all panchayat headquarters to enable devotees to witness the day’s proceedings and the inauguration ceremony live, said district collector Samarth Verma. Priests from 60 shrines in the country will be the guests on the occasion. This apart Shankaracharyas of all four dhams are expected to grace the ceremony, said chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das. “The Nepal king is likely to attend the function and the additional district magistrate will remain in charge of the hospitality of the guests,” Das stated.
Meanwhile, Parikrama project work is progressing steadily and nearing completion. “Administration has opened a new road from the Jagannath Ballav multi-level vehicle parking lot to Dolabedi Kona. The 50-feet wide and about one km long road named as ‘Sri Danda’ has been carved out on war-footing by demolishing several buildings to facilitate smooth flow of devotees from the parking lot to the Simhadwar and return,” informed the nodal officer of the Parikrama Project PK Panigrahi.
The unique Trumpet bridge (Sri Setu) has been aligned with the multi-level parking tower. This five km special road will also facilitate the smooth management of devotees. This apart, the road at the District Headquarters Hospital square has been four-laned for the grand event.