Ahead of the Bahuda Yatra of Lord Jagannath and His siblings on Saturday, lakhs of devotees were allowed to have darshan of the deities at the Adap Mandap in the Gundicha Temple till 6 pm on Friday.
Notably, senior servitor Dr Sarat Chandra Mohanty had earlier said, “The Sandhya (evening) darshan of the Lords on the Adap Mandap will not be allowed for devotees from 4 pm onwards today.”
“Of course, the temple administration’s decision restricting devotees from darshan in the evening has hurt their sentiments. But the servitors have to get ready to complete all rituals before pahandi on Saturday morning. The Charamala through which the idols will be alighted from the Adap Mandap for pahandi rituals will be tied from the Ratna Singhasan up to the door in the evening after conducting the Srimukha Khandua (a cloth made of Khandua Patta covering Lords’ faces) ritual of the deities,” he had told the media.
“There is a belief that devotees by offering prayer and having darshan of Chaturdhamurti on the Adap Mandap at Gundicha Temple in the evening before Bahuda Yatra obtain virtues of thousands and millions of births. However, in view of smooth conduct of rituals of deities for the Bahuda Yatra, the temple administration has decided to close the public darshan 4 hours before the schedule. Hence, there will be no Sandhya darshan after 4 pm today,” the servitor said.
Usually, the Sandhya darshan of deities is held in the evening. The devotees in large number from many parts of the country throng the Gundicha Temple during the nine-day Rath Yatra to have darshan of the deities on the Adap Mandap.