Puri: The Banakalagi ritual of Lord Jagannath and his siblings at Puri Srimandir will likely be held on August 9 (Wednesday), informed sources in the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
As per reports, due to the stalemate between SJTA and Dattamohapatra Nijog servitors, the Banakalagi ritual of the Holy Trinity could not be held since Niladri Bije on July 1 this year.
While the SJTA has been insisting the ritual be held every Wednesday, the Dattamohapatra Nijog has been demanding that the Banakalagi ritual should be held every Thursday as per the Srimandir Record of Rights.
However, according to the temple management committee’s decision taken in 2018, Wednesday has been fixed for the Banakalagi ritual of Lord Jagannath and his Siblings.
Last Tuesday (June 25), the SJTA shot a letter to Dattamohapatra Nijog asking them to conduct the Banakalagi ritual on Wednesday (June 26). But the Dattamohapatra servitors failed to conduct the ritual citing that due to last moment notice they could not prepare for the ritual.
Last Friday (June 28), the SJTA convened the sub-committee (ritual) meeting to resolve the issues between the administration and servitors. However, the meeting yielded no fruits as the priests remained adamant about their demands.
The Dattamohapatra Nijog had made all arrangements for the said ritual on Thursday. However, the SJTA restricted Nijog’s move and instructed the priests to do the same on Wednesday only.
On August 1, the Shree Jagannath Temple Management Committee was about to convene a meeting under the chairmanship of Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb where the dispute was to be taken up. However, due to reasons unknown, the meeting was not held today.
