President Pranab Mukherjee arrived at the Talabania helipad here 30 minutes behind schedule on Thursday. He was escorted to the Shree Jagannath Temple amid tight security.
During his stay in the temple for about 40 minutes, Mukherjee performed Dia Arati and offered prayers to lord Jagannath, his elder Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra in the sanctum sanctorum near the Ratna Simhasan.
Mukherjee’s two traditional family priests accompanied him in the temple. later, he went to the Muktimandap (the seat of learned scholars of the temple), where the pundits blessed him with recitation of Ashirvad Slokas.
He too offered prayers to Goddesses Mahalakshmi and Vimala in their respective temples located in the main temple complex.
Earlier on his arrival at the helipad, Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya along with the Puri District Magistrate welcomed the President. At temple gate, Gajapati King Dibyasingh Dev, chairman of the temple management body, greeted him with bouquets before he was taken inside the temple being escorted by his traditional family priests Madhusudan and Damodar Gochhikar besides temple Chief Administrator Arabinda Padhee amid chanting of religious hymns by Vedic scholars.
Members of Chhatisha Nijog (the apex confederation of temple servitors’ bodies) too presented bouquets to the President in the temple. A beautiful photo of the Sunavesh of the lord was presented to him by the temple administration.
Though several measures were taken by the concerned authorities for smooth conduct of the President’s visit, a large number of temple servitors jostled among themselves to have a glimpse of his causing chaos in the temple complex. later, Mukherjee took his lunch at the Raj Bhavan at Puri before leaving the city.
No devotee was allowed to the temple for two hours for the President’s visit.