Dispute over VIP darshan delays rituals at Puri Jagannath temple; deities left to starve

Bhubaneswar: Rituals at the Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri city were delayed for several hours on Saturday due to a dispute over special privilege for the VIPs at the shrine.

The delay in the rituals caused inconvenience to the devotees as they were forced to wait for over four hours to get Mahaprasad, reports said.

The rituals of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were going on smoothly till the afternoon. Thereafter, the rituals were halted due to the alleged non-cooperation from the servitors and a dispute over the special privilege to the VIPs.

The temple authorities reportedly allowed the VIPs to have a darshan of the presiding deities through ‘Jay-Vijay’ Dwar. This special arrangement for a select few invited protests from several quarters, reports said.

After a delay of over four hours, the servitors finally agreed to perform the rituals and offer Mahaprasad before the deities. The temple delicacies were made available to the devotees at around 6 pm, reports added.