3 days on, Lord Lingaraj goes hungry in Bhubaneswar 

Lord Lingaraj has been going hungry since Sunday noon thanks to a dispute between the servitors over entry of a non-servitor into the Bhoga Mandap of the temple. 

While the Brahmana Nijog has accused Badu Nijog of not cooperating in observing of rituals, such cases of disruption of rituals have become the order of the day at the 11th-century temple.  Lack of cooperation between the servitors, temple administration and district administration are said to be the reasons why such disputes are arising time and again, forcing the Lord to go hungry. 

Meanwhile, in his reaction, secretary, Badu Nijog, Kamalakanta Badu termed the allegation leveled by the Brahmana Nijog as baseless.

“The allegations leveled against the Badu Nijog are false. Badu Nijog is not known for disrupting rituals.  Such disruptions are being caused frequently by servitors belonging to Brahmana Nijog and Puja Panda Nijog. Yesterday a meeting was called but they didn’t come to it. The impasse will end only when they cooperate,” said Kamalakanta. 

Regarding the cause of the dispute, Badu said, “We are all following the rituals for ages. The general practice is to burry spoiled ‘prasad’.  I would have been happy if the spoiled ‘prasad’ would have been distributed among the people. But they were sold to the devotees. For all such irregularities, the temple administration is responsible.”

Protesting against the Lord being forced to go without ‘prasad’, social activist Nilamani Mishra staged a dharna in front of the temple. 

“It is disgusting that Lord Lingaraj’s rituals have been disrupted for three days since the New Year Day. Not a single flower has so far been offered to Him. For this, the administration is squarely responsible. Had the administration taken care of, such things wouldn’t have taken place. Later, we will intensify our protest,” said Mishra.

(Reported by Niranjan Reddy from Bhubaneswar, OTV)