Puri temple admn publishes Jagannath calendar

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday released a calendar published by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) of Puri. Thanks to the initiative of SJTA Chief Administrator Arabinda Padhee, the calendar, which is published for the first time by the SJTA, contains descriptions and schedules of the day-to-day rituals of the 12th-century shrine.

Earlier, SJTA and the Mukti Mandap, the highest advisory body of the temple, were authorising various private agencies for publication of the calendar. The new calendar is meant to inform devotees about rituals festivals and traditions of lord Jagannath. It chronologically describes the events, Nitis, usual rituals, special rituals and festivities of the temple with their related photographs.

The step to publish such a calendar was taken when it was found that the calendars earlier published by different agencies were not uniform in terms of dates, timings and views about some specific festivals. SJTA consulted Jagadguru Sankarachrya Nischalananda Saraswati and astrologers before publishing the calendar itself. 

The Mineral and Material Trading Corporation (MMTC), a Central public sector undertaking, provided `1.75 lakh for bringing out the calendar.

law Minister and Puri MlA Maheswar Mohanty, Principal Secretary of law Santosh Kumar Mohanty, Puri Collector Naba Kumar Nayak and MMTC General Manger Bansidhar Dash and Senior Manager Sashi Bhusan Sethi were present on the occasion of release of the calendar at  State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar.