Supreme Court-appointed Amicus Curiae Gopal Subramaniam visited the Jagannath Temple here and offered prayers to the deities on Friday.
Later, he called on Jagadguru Shankaracharya Nischilananda Saraswati at the Gobardhan Peeth. Wearing priestly attire and with sandal paste and vermilion on the forehead, Subramaniam was welcomed at the Lions Gate at 5.30 am and led to the shrine’s sanctum sanctorum by servitors for darshan of the deities during the Mangal Arati of deities.
After the darshan, he put some money on the tray (Thali) kept by servitors. He visited the side temples in the shrine and viewed gods and goddesses. He too took blessings of Mukti Mandap by donating some money there too. It seemed that Subramaniam’s gesture made all present around him happy.
Shree Jaganath Temple Administration Chief Administrator Pradipta Mohapatra, Puri Collector Jyoti Prakash Das, SP Sarthak Sarangi and other officers were present. Later, Subramaniam took a meeting in the temple office where Mohapatra informed him about history, traditions, culture and festivals observed in the shrine throughout a year. The meeting lasted for almost an hour after which Amicus Curiae left for Gobardhan peeth to meet the Shankaracharya.
Sources said he paid all respect to the Shankaracharya and held discussions with him on certain issues not revealed to others. But sources said he held talks on the rituals and roles of every sect and the Gobardhan peeth’s role in the Shreemandir. The closed-door meeting lasted for nearly an hour beginning from 12 pm.
“Nobody feels empty and squeezed, everybody returns with due honour and prestige. Sanskar (reform), Sikshs (education) Suraksha (safety), Rakshy (defence), Dharma (religion), Moksha (salvation) should be given heed in the Jaganath Temple,” Shankaracharya told reporters after the meeting.
Then, Subramanium met the three-member reform committed led by former SJTA chief Suresh Mohapatra and judges of Puri. “Discussions were made basically on old customs, rites and rituals, and laws and traditions of the Shree Jagannath Temple,” said Subramaniam.
As per the schedule, the Amicus Curiae would meet Chatisha Nijog members and subsequently hear pleas and grievances of people on Saturday.
He is also scheduled to meet Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb and local MLA and MP separately. He is also scheduled to hold meeting with Chief Secretary, Law Minister and Law Secretary in Bhubaneswar.