Bhubaneswar event did not show real attire, says SJTA chief

Joining the bandwagon resenting the displays of Raghunath Besha of Lord Jagannath and His siblings at a function at Bhubaneswar, Puri Sankaracharya Nichalananda Sarawati said the attire can only be organised on Ratna Singhasan (bejewelled throne) of the Jagannath Temple.

The Puri seer too clarified that the exhibition of the Besha is only limited to the sanctum sanctorum and a prescribed time is there for the observance.

However, the Chief Administrator (CA) of Shree Jaganath Temple Administration (SJTA) who had participated the event on Saturday in Bhubaneswar washed his hands off saying it was not the real Besha, instead a replica one.

To a question by reporters, CA Pradipta Mohapatra agreed that he had attended the event for a debate on the attires only in different temples.

The Besha was sponsored by Nalco, told Mohapatra who too clarified that there is no restriction to organise as nobody is restricted to set-up Jagannath Temple anywhere.

The Law Department under whose jurdiction Jagannath temple falls would decide on the matter, he told.

Principal Secretary Law Sashikant Mishra said that he has already watched a video of presence of the officer on special duty (OSD) Bhaskar Mishra of his department in the event. Since the OSD has already been deputed to Jagannath Temple, hence the shrine administration would decide steps on him, Mishra told this paper.

However, there is twitter war over the Besha against a financial gain of the organisers. On twitter account of the Chief Minister, many people from Puri have posted complaints against the organisers for outsourcing of Besha from Shreemandira.

It is also heard that not only the Nalco, but the SOA University and a number of big business houses had also donated lakhs of rupees to one Puri-based trust to organise the three-day event in Bhubaneswar.