PURI : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday inaugurated the Shri Jagannath temple heritage corridor project amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’ and ‘haribol’ in the presence of Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, 5T and Nabin Odisha chairman VK Pandian, sadhus, priests and delegates from across the country and abroad.
The town was soaked in spirituality as mantras and Vedic hymns were chanted during the event. After the inauguration of the Parikrama, the Gajapati offered ‘Purna Ahuti’ at the ongoing three-day yajna to mark its end. As per temple tradition, 108 Stotriya brahmins were entrusted the task of performing the yajna to consecrate the Parikrama by the Gajapati.
Soon after the Purna Ahuti, the chief minister accompanied by the Gajapati, hundreds of sadhus and delegates from various temples and religious institutions from across the country walked round the Parikrama. A large number of Nama Sankeertan mandalis, Odissi dancers, medhas of Kalika, Durga, Dasanan, and Naga dancers led the procession of the chief minister.
After completion of the one km-long Parikrama of the temple, the chief minister felicitated several people who had contributed to the project. They included a daily labourer, a gardener, two masons, one JCB driver, one Pattachitra artist, a stone carver and two helpers.
Taking to social media platform X, the chief minister said the Parikrama project belongs to every Odia and devotee of Lord Jagannath.
“This will give a spiritual feeling to the darshan of Lord Jagannath. I respect the sacrifice of Puri people for this project,” he said.
Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated the Sri Setu (trumpet bridge) and Jagannath Ballav parking place and went to the Srimandir Parikrama through a newly constructed Sri Marg. At around 1.35 pm, he unveiled the plaque of the Parikrama project. The general public were allowed to the Parikrama after 3 pm.
More than 1,000 guests including about three dozen devotees from Australia, UK and USA witnessed the ceremony. Four emissaries of the Nepal King who has a special seva in Puri temple attended the event. Sadhus and priests of 90 religious institutions and important temples of the country were invited to attend the ceremony.
At least 80 platoons of police personnel besides three K9 teams, several units bomb detection and disposal squads, anti-sabotage units, plain cloth intelligence officers were deployed for the ceremony while 44 platoons were engaged to maintain law and order.
Srimandir gets a mega facelift as CM dedicates Parikrama
Entire Puri town and its suburbs were illuminated with colourful and decorative lights. Laser shows were organised at two places of the Badadanda displaying Kanchi Abhijan of the Gajapati and other religious events.
Developed at a cost of `800 crore, the heritage corridor spans a width of 75 metre around the Meghanad Pacheri of the Sri Jagannath temple. Besides beautification, it is laced with basic amenities for the devotees and visitors to the temple.
The chief minister had laid the foundation for the project on November 24, 2021. The project also includes parking areas - Shree Setu (a bridge), Shree Danda/Marga, running parallel to the grand road to ease pilgrim movement, pilgrimage centre, restroom facilities, cloak rooms and various other amenities for visitors in and around Jagannath Temple.