Aradi: After ten days of keeping Lord Akhandalamani temple out of bounds for devotees in view of coronavirus outbreak, servitors and priests here performed ‘Maharudra Yajna’ inside the shrine Monday to ward off deadly coronavirus.
The ritual began in the morning and continued till night.
“Similar yajnas were performed in past as well whenever there was some threat to the mankind – especially when humans found the threats to be beyond their capability to control. We believe the yanja will do away with the coronavirus scare,” said an elderly servitor.
Another priest added that they have prayed the Lord to bless people across the globe and neutralize the effect of coronavirus.
It may be mentioned here that the ever-bustling Akhandalamani temple wears a deserted look after devotees were barred from entering the temple amid COVID-19 outbreak. Several other major temples of the state including Puri Jagannath temple and Bhubaneswar based Lingaraj temple remain out of bound for devotees amid corona scare and nationwide lockdown.
PNN