Darus final for Odisha Nabakalebara; to be conveyed today

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Kakatpur, Apr 11:

The Banjaga Yatra team, which finalised the four darus with all the requisite attributes for carving of the new idols of the presiding deities of Odisha’s holy town Puri as part of the grand festival of Nabakalebara on Saturday, will inform the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) about it on Sunday.

“I will inform the temple administration about the locations of the identified darus in writing tomorrow,” said Haladhara Das Mohapatra, dalapati (team leader) of the Banajaga Yatra team here this evening.

The Daitapati servitors are believed to have zeroed in on the four darusout of the short listed earlier at a meeting this evening. The choice was made based on the basis of the report given by a team consisting of the dalapati (team leader), pati mohapatra, badagrahis and senior Daitapati, which did one last round of scrutiny of the eight short listed darus in the morning.

On receiving the report of the Banajaga team, the SJTA will make a public announcement on the location of the tree to be used carving of Lord Sudarshan’s idol first on Monday or Tuesday and follow it up with the announcement about the other darus.

Earlier in the day, DGP Sanjeev Marik today visited Deuli Mutt to discuss with the key members of the Banajaga Yatra team security arrangements for the selected darus as well as security to the members of Banajaga Yatra team during their stay at the location of selected darus.

“Today is the last day of the scrutiny process of darus identified by us during our search. Today we will be declaring that to the SJTA. Police department’s cooperation will be needed to protect the finally darus. That is what we were discussing with the DGP. After we inform the SJTA, the administration will take one or two days to announce the location in order to make necessary arrangements there. The DGP said that the selected daru will be barricaded using iron grills and another barricade using wire fencing so that the tree is protected and devotees can have darshan of it from a distance. Police will be on full alert,” said Ramakrushna Das Mohapatra, president of the Daitapati Nijog.

“After announcement of Lord Sudarshan’s daru here at Deuli Mutt, our entire team will shift to that location. Everything from yagna mandap to Sabara palli will be set there by the Deula Karana and the entire place will be barricaded. The DGP, who was here, discussed with us on the issue of providing security to the darus and other security arrangements,” said Binayak Das Mohapatra, Biswabasu of the Banajaga Yatra team.

“The eight short listed darus are Gods and there is a competition among them as to who will mount the Ratnasimhasan, the pedestal where the deities are seated inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Shree Jagannath temple. We too do not know who from among them will adorn the Ratnasimhasan. It is He who will decide. Our dalapati, the chief administrator of the SJTA, Puri SP, Biswabasu and others will meet in the evening and four out of the eight darus shortlisted will be selected. The administration will be the first to be informed about the locations before it is made public as necessary arrangements have to be made by them. We will be leaving Deuli Mutt by 14th,” said Premananda Das Mohapatra, secretary, Daitapati Nijog.