Puri: Authorities of Puri’s Jagannath Temple have said the district administration of Hapur in Uttar Pradesh has assured them that it will allow the celebration of the annual Rath Yatra only as per ‘tithi’ (auspicious day of the Hindu almanac) July 16 and not on any prior date.
The development came after the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) objected to the decision of a religious body at UP’s Hapur to celebrate Rath Yatra on June 16.
The incident took place days after a similar attempt to bring out an “untimely” Rath Yatra was foiled by the Ferozepur district administration of Punjab.
The SJTA, in a statement issued Sunday, said that while an organisation from Hapur was planning to take out a ‘Rath Yatra’ on June 16, the sacred event is scheduled to be celebrated on July 16 this year as per the fixed date of the main temple in Puri.
“Regarding this deviation, we wrote to the Hapur district magistrate, requesting her to take necessary steps to ensure that the festival is celebrated as per tradition and scriptural norms,” SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said in the statement.
Padhee said the district magistrate has informed SJTA through a letter that the Rath Yatra will not be taken out in June and the organisers have been advised to celebrate it in July on the original date.
“We express our heartfelt gratitude to the Hapur District Magistrate, Kavita Meena, and the entire Hapur district administration for their timely intervention to maintain the norms of this sacred tradition,” Padhee said.
Earlier this month, the SJTA had also sought the intervention of the district administration of Ferozepur of Punjab to prevent an “untimely” Rath Yatra, on May 23, saying it violated the scriptures, thereby hurting the religious sentiments of the devotees.
The Ferozepur district administration also intervened and assured the SJTA that the organisers have also agreed to postpone their plan and would take out the Rath Yatra as per the suggested date on July 16.
Padhee said untimely observance of Rath Yatra is not in consonance with the prescribed religious calendar and the established scriptural traditions governing the festival.
The SJTA also maintained that under resolutions adopted by the Puri Jagannath Temple’s managing committee under the chairmanship of the Gajapati Maharaja of Puri, it has consistently expressed its strong objection to such untimely observances.
PTI
