Devadasi Parasamani of the Jagannath Temple here passed away on Saturday. The temple’s last Devadasi, she was 94 and suffering from old age ailment.
She was cremated at the Swargadwar here. Prasanna Kumar Das, a relative, lit the funeral pyre.
An earlier Devadasi, Sashimani, had died a few years ago.
As per the temple tradition, Parasamani was a spinster and performed her ritual as a devotional singer in the shrine.
Earlier, a Devadashi would sing and dance in the temple when the deities were going to bed at night. During the song and dance, nobody would stay in the temple except a few designated servitors and musicians. But the tradition is no more in vogue.
Parasamani was performing her rite symbolically by singing only. But due to old age, she was absent for last many years. Her death news spread shockwaves in Puri.