Bhubaneswar: Amidst the raging debate over the touching of the deities at the Snana Mandap in Puri on Monday night, Puri Gajapati king Divyasingh Dev today made it clear that touching the deities is strictly prohibited as per scriptures.
“A most surprising and unfortunate incident took place at the Snana Mandap on Monday night. I came to know about the incident after watching the telecast by your channel (OTV) last night. What I found was that the entire process of the Sahana Mela darshan went off smoothly. But after the Sahana Mela darshan was over and the deities were about to be taken on pahandi, some devotees suddenly crossed the barricades and touched the deities,” the Gajapati told OTV.
“I want to make it very clear that touching the deities is strictly prohibited in the scriptures. As a decision to this effect has already been taken by Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, Shankaracharya of Gobardhan Peeth in November, 2013, there is no scope for any question or debate on this issue. In a press briefing yesterday, the Shankaracharya has stood firm on his decision. Just as devotees cannot touch the deities at the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, they are also debarred from touching them at any place, whether it is the Snana Madap, Adapa Mandap, on the chariots or at the time of pahandi,” he maintained.
The Gajapati also said the Temple Managing Committee had immediately agreed to implement the decision taken by the Shankaracharya in November 2013. Besides, the Orissa High Court, in its order in June 2014, had made it clear that the decision of the Shankaracharya would be strictly obeyed by the state government and the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
“Acting on the decision of the Shankaracharya and the directive of the High Court, the SJTA in a circular in 2015 had debarred devotees from touching the deities at the Snana Mandap,” he informed.
Admitting that he himself was unaware of the restrictions until the Shankaracharya gave his decision, the Gajapati king said there are no shashtras (religious scriptures) which allow the devotees to touch the deities.
To a question on whether action would be taken against the servitors who had allowed the devotees to touch the deities, the Gajapati said Section 21 of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act deals with the disciplinary action, punishment, penalty on the servitors. All these powers have been vested with the chief administrator of SJTA. “It is the duty of the chief administrator to exercise his power when the need arises," he said.
Asked who he would blame for the incident, the SJTA or the state government, he said SJTA is the implementing authority. But it implements its decision as per the directive of the state government. “In my opinion both of them should work together”.
The Gajapati, however, expressed his anguish over the fact that the live telecast of the Sahana Mela darshan was stopped by all channels after 10.30 PM.
“I had a desire that I would watch all rituals of the deities at the Snana Mandap and the arrangements made for the devotees. You conducted live telecast of the Snana Yatra, but stopped it during Sahana Mela darshan. As a result, I could not know what happened during the pahandi of the deities,” he pointed out.