After descending from a long 12-day tour to the Shreemandir, lord Jaganath and His siblings, lord Balabhdara and Devi Subhadra, had their first lunch in the temple with the home-made delicacies on Thursday.
looking at the high demand for the Abhada among the devotees to have first offering of lords after the Rath Yatra, the prices were hiked.
The rates were so high that many returned with little of the Abhada in hand as a symbolic gesture. As it was first offering in Nilachala (Jagannath temple) in a year, there was remarkably a huge attraction in devotees to have first Abhada (rice offering) of the year which is well-pronounced as Nilachal Abhada.
To mark Nilachal Abhada, people in large numbers turned up to Ananda Bazar (dining room) to have it after a stop for 13 days. All the day, the devotees crowded in shrine for a glimpse of the lords atop the Ratnasinghasan and feasted in the Ananda Bazar with their near and dear.
The entire temple was seen jam-packed with people spread beyond Ananda Bazar premises for dining. Of course, to meet the overwhelming demand, the Suars and Mahasuars (temple cook) left no stone unturned and cooked huge quantity of rice, dal and curry for sale. As per a rough estimate, Abhada of as many 1,000 earthen pots was cooked for sales.
But the sad part was that the prices jacked up. Even the hefty prices made many to return with just a morsel in hands. Since there was no check and balance system in place on behalf the temple administration on sale of Abhada, the devotees suffered a lot.