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`Rare devotee' to visit shrine

"The Maharani's visit would be organised according to the rule book for the Temple"

Puri: Officials at Sri Jagannath Temple here are working overtime to welcome a `rare devotee' who will offer puja inside the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century Vishnu shrine after a gap of 40 years.

She is Maharani Lilabati Pattamahadei, wife of Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, who is considered the living incarnation of Lord Jagannath.

Though Lilabati became Maharani of Puri after marrying Dibyasingha Deb 25 years ago, she has never been inside the temple.

The last Maharani, the wife of Maharaja Birakishore Singh Deb, visited the temple to offer puja in 1966, and the practice was that each Maharani visits the shrine only once in her lifetime, sources said. This is, however, only a tradition and there is no hard and fast rule preventing Maharanis from visiting the temple.

The temple's administration received a letter from the palace saying the "Maharani desired to offer puja inside the shrine on April 8", the temple's assistant administrator Surendranath Mishra said.

"This is a rare occasion for the temple and for the priests. Maharanis of Puri do not frequently visit the temple due to several factors and the tradition associated with temple rituals," said Rabinarayan Pratihari, a senior priest and a former member of the temple's managing trustee.

Mishra said the Maharani's visit would be organised according to the rulebook or Record of Rights (RoR) for the Jagannath Temple.

According to the RoR, when a Maharani visits the temple, she will be carried inside the shrine by a `sabari' (palanquin) taken from the palace to the temple.

The RoR also stipulates where the palanquin will be kept inside the shrine. While the Maharaja will step into the temple through the temple's southern gate, the Maharani will enter through the Lion's gate, the RoR says.

"Not even priests are allowed to remain inside the temple when the Maharani offers puja, " Pratihari said. PTI

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