Puri dress code effect: Servitors, devotees pitch for similar rider at Lingaraj temple

A day after the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) decided to enforce dress code for devotees from January 1, 2024, servitors and devotees of Lord Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar have raised the pitch for similar sartorial restrictions for entry into the temple. 

The SJTA has advised the devotees to wear decent clothes instead of putting on shorts, ripped jeans, and skirts while entering the Puri Jagannath temple. The move, which has been widely welcomed by people of all walks and devotees, has also made an impression on the servitors and devotees of Lord Lingaraj. 

Brahman Niyog (a body of servitors of Lingaraj temple) demanded a similar dress code for devotees coming for darshan for Lord Lingaraj apart from a significant decision to put a proposal to the temple administration and management committee to ensure that devotes come in decent and traditional clothes. 

Pritam Jena, who visited Lingaraj temple today, welcomed the step taken by the Puri temple administration on clamping clothing restrictions for devotees. 

“I welcome the move which should be enforced at all other religious places. Temples are not parks and picnic spots where anybody will come wearing anything. It is a matter of faith and devotion. Wearing decent clothes will add to the spiritual atmosphere of the place, apart from reflecting the true devotion of the people,” Jena observed.

As for the dress code, Biranchinaryan Pati, secretary of Brahman Niyog, supported the move saying that the dress code should be implemented not only for the Puri temple but also for other shrines across the state. 

However, he expressed his doubts if such a restriction would ever be effected at the Lingaraj temple. “No such new things will be implemented in the case of the Lingaraj temple. The temple administration is always callous towards such things. Neither the temple administration nor the district administration thinks about novel and reformatory steps. Rituals are here affected, but the administration hardly does anything to improve the situation.”