Rajnagar, June 20: With three days to go for the world famous Rath Yatra, a temple of Lord Jagannath at Keredagarh here in Kendrapara district remained out of bounds for devotees for 10 years now due to a ban on their entry, a report said Thursday.
The temple gate remains closed all these years. Devotees had to peep through the 132 openings of the grill gate from a 50-ft distance to have ‘darshan’ of the deities. The only time they get to see the deities when the Trinity comes out on chariots during Rath Yatra.
The district administration imposed the ban after a dispute arose between members of upper caste and scheduled caste communities over entry of the latter into the temple.
Since then successive district administrations have done little to end the impasse. The decision of the district administration has turned to be a wall between the devotees and the deities.
Moreover, the devotees are not allowed to make offerings of their choice and can only offer coconuts by making a payment of Rs 5. The interim trustee in-charge of the temple management has failed to take any step in this regard.
This has triggered resentment among devotees as observers claimed that if urgent steps are not taken the bitterness might flare up into a law and order situation.
Sources said members of upper caste were allowed to visit the temple and had darshan of the deities while scheduled caste people were denied entry. Members of the scheduled caste community had to peep through nine holes of the temple wall to have darshan of the deities.
However, a dispute arose after some devotees of the scheduled caste community entered the temple and had ‘darshan’ of the deities on the day of Kartik Purnima in 2006. The priests and servitors present at the temple misbehaved with them and conducted the ‘Mahasnan’ of the deities. As a result, the deities even had to go without food for 10 days as priests stopped performing rituals.
The issue then had hit national headlines as members in state Assembly, Lok Sabha and Orissa High Court expressed concerns over the development.
The High Court in its ruling the same year said every Hindu is allowed to visit the temple and perform rituals.
The district administration tried to implement the High Court order but found the temple tradition and the law contradicting each other.
In a bizarre decision, it broke down the wall having nine holes and instead installed a grill gate having 132 openings in it. Only servitors were allowed to enter the temple. Since then the rule is in practice in the temple.
When contacted, Rajnagar tehsildar Khirod Kumar Behera said a meeting of all parties will be held where a decision on whether to allow devotees or not will be taken.
Temple head priest Somanath Sarangi said any Dalit member can visit the temple but the deities have to undergo ‘Mahasnan’ thrice a day for which the temple trustee has to sanction Rs 300 for the purpose.
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