Rituals at the 11th century Lingaraj temple have once again come to a halt after two sections of servitors entered into a dispute over the ‘Paitalagi Niti’.
Following the suspension of rituals from yesterday’s ‘Badasinghara Besa’, the deity is forced to go hungry.
The Pujapanda Nijog and Badu Nijog have been locking horns over the ‘Paitalagi’ ritual. The servitors of the Puja Panda Nijog are reiterating that they would offer three pieces of sacred thread that are known as paita to the lord and then the servitors of Badu Nijog would offer the rest of 24 sacred threads.
“Till 2019, Pujapanda Nijog servitors used to offer three ‘paitas’ and Badu Nijog servitors used to offer 24 ‘paitas’. Now the Badu Nijog servitors are obstinate and demanding that they would offer all the 27 paitas to the lord. So the ritual has been affected,” said Sachikanta Pujapanda.
“The servitors of Pujapanda Nijog can’t touch the lord. If they accidentally touch, the lord is considered impure. Then we would bathe Him and perform all the rituals afresh. They are forcibly transgressing into our service,” alleged Badu Nijog’s president, Anchal Badu.
When contacted, the supervisor of Lingaraj Temple Rajkishore Mohapatra said, “The rituals have been halted since the Badasinghara Besa yesterday. The dispute between the two servitor groups over offering ‘paita’ to the lord has been going on since 2020.”
On the other hand, the devotees coming from far and near places got upset for not being allowed to offer puja to Lord Lingaraj.
“I couldn’t have a darshan of the Lord Shiva. When enquired, I came to know that due to the ongoing dispute between the servitors, the rituals have been suspended at the shrine. I feel sad,” said a devotee coming from out of the state.