Bhubaneswar: A delegation of Puri Jagannath temple management committee, servitors and officials on Tuesday presented the invitation of the temple heritage corridor project to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the inaugural ceremony to be held January 17 next year.
The 50-member delegation presented the first invitation of the ‘Srimandir Parikrama’ (temple heritage project) to Lord Lingaraj here this morning.
“As per our tradition, we have invited Lord Lingaraj for the inauguration of the Srimandir Parikrama project. Senior servitors of Jagannath temple and Lingaraj temple performed the rituals as per our tradition,” said sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, who is a member of the Shree Jagannath Temple Management Committee.
After visiting the Lord Lingaraj Temple, the delegation consisting of temple servitors, members of the temple management committee and Puri district administration met Patnaik at his residence Naveen Niwas here and invited him. The CM accepted the invitation by giving one ‘gua’ (areca nut) and a handful of rice.
Distribution of invitations for the inaugural ceremony of the Parikrama (heritage corridor) project of Puri Jagannath temple began on Tuesday.
A total of 30 teams have been formed to distribute the invitation to about 200 temples inside and outside the state including other countries, said Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Ranjan Das here.
While 17 teams have started their journey to distribute the invitations in major religious shrines outside the state, 13 teams dispatched to various areas in the state, he said.
Invitations will be given to more than 200 temples including over 60 temples from outside Odisha, he said, adding invitation will be given to Pashupatinath temple in Nepal.
Das said that the invitation kit contains an invitation card, temple flag, brochure of the Parikrama project and ‘prasad’.
Meanwhile, a team of sevayats went to Tamil Nadu to hand over invitations to Meenakshi temple at Madurai, Rameswaram temple, Jagannath temple at Chennai, and some other major temples in the southern state.
Similarly, different teams gave invitations to Cuttack Chandi temple and Khurda Jagannath temple in Odisha.
The foundation stone for the temple heritage corridor project in Puri to transform the pilgrim town into a place of heritage of international importance was laid by ‘Gajapati Maharaja’ Divyasingha Deb in the presence of Chief Minister Patnaik on November 24, 2021.
The Rs 800 crore project includes redeveloping major portions of the town and in the vicinity of the temple for visitors and tourists while creating an unobstructed 75-metre corridor around the Meghanada Pacheri (the outer wall of the 12th-century shrine).
The amenities, to be available around the temple boundary wall, include toilets and shelter pavilions in the south, north and west directions of the temple.
Besides, a reception centre with a capacity to accommodate 6,000 people, a cultural centre including Raghunandan library, Badadanda heritage streetscape, Jagannath Ballav pilgrim centre, multilevel car parking facility and other amenities.
PTI