Gope: An unusual crowd gathered at a confectionery shop in the market here in Puri district Friday morning to take a glimpse of a butterfly.
The butterfly, brown in colour, carries a certain pattern on its head that resembles the face of Lord Jagannath.
As the news spread, local people, Lord Jagannath devotees, residents of nearby villages and passersby swarmed the eatery. While some maintained that Lord Jagannath often manifests in similar ways for his devotees, some were seen praying to the lord with folded hands while some were seen worshipping the butterfly with incense sticks, earthen lamps and breaking coconuts, turning the roadside eatery into a virtual shrine.
When contacted, a forest department official on the condition of anonymity said the butterfly spotted at the eatery is of a very rare kind. They are rare because their number is comparatively less.
PNN
