Following the controversial Raghunath Besha of Lord Jagannath and His siblings at Bhubaneswar, Gajapati King of Puri Dibyasingha Dev said that he would first know the matter in details and then give his response.
After arrival at his Bhubanewar residence on Wednesday from a tour to outside the State, the Gajapati said that he did know what has really happened and would first enter the subject before speaking anything. “I am not aware of what really has happened here. Let me first enter the subject,” said the Puri king to The Pioneer.
After the Besha, oppositions are steadily gathering momentum in Puri with resentments from various social fora in each passing day. Now the Muktimandap, the highest priestly body of Shreemandira, has joined the chorus by issuing an objection against the hosts of the event.
Strongly denouncing the acts of some outfits to display the rare of rarest attire of deities outside the Puri shrine, Muktimandap secretary Pandit Ajit Kumar Mishra urged the Government for a vivid probe and strong actions against the people. He suspected the Iskcon hand might be in the event, as it is under the scanner of temple for last many years.
He added it is most disgusting to watch the presence of the officials of temple administration in the Besha. What is clearly showed a backing of the temple administration, which the secretary termed to be quite objectionable.
Notably, Sankaracharya of Puri had too opposed the holding of the Raghunath Besha ritual outside the Shreemandir premises. On Tuesday, he had said that the Besha of the deities is only limited to Shreemandira Ratna Singhasan and a prescribed timing is there for the observance. Referring to Skanda Purana, the Hindu seer requested people not to deviate the centuries -old practices.
Even well-known scholar in Jagannath cult, Dr Naresh Chandra Dash had opposed stating the event to be most unfortunate outside the temple and too sought a probe.