BHUBANESWAR: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Wednesday formed a three-member committee on to investigate the incident of Lord Balabhadra‘s idol falling from the Taladhwaja chariot in Puri on Tuesday, amidst widespread outrage against servitors for their alleged negligence that led to the mishap.
The committee consists of an additional district magistrate (ADM), an SJTA administrator and a deputy superintendent of police.“We have asked the committee to submit its inquiry report within 10 days from Niladri Bije, which will be performed on July 19. Video footage of the incident will be examined,” SJTA’s chief administrator Vir Vikram Yadav said.
Around 9pm on Tuesday, over 100 servitors were engaged in ‘Pahandi ritual’ to carry the 7-ft-high, 1,500 kg idol of Lord Balabhadra to the Gundicha temple. Some servitors slipped on the makeshift ladder that had been built to carry the deity from the chariot to the shrine. Ten of them got trapped under the idol and were later rescued by other servitors and police personnel. They were rushed to Puri district headquarters hospital and later discharged.
Since Jagannath Temple is linked to the sentiments of people, the fall of Lord Balabhadra’s idol triggered public outcry with servitors being criticised for their alleged carelessness. Many devotees took to social media and blamed the servitors for not taking the rituals seriously.
“In Russia, our PM Narendra Modi propagated Jagannath culture. Sadly, the servitors did not carry Lord Balabhadra’s idol safely and made it fall. We never imagined we would witness such an embarrassing scene,” said Pragyan Mishra, a devotee.
Puri king and chairman of the Jagannath Temple managing committee, Dibyasingha Deb, expressed anguish over the incident. “Crores of devotees of Lord Jagannath have been hurt and saddened by the incident, which never occurred earlier. While the committee will inquire into the circumstances leading to the incident, steps should be taken to prevent its recurrence,” he said.
He also expressed concern over the presence of a large number of servitors on Lord Balabhadra’s chariot when the accident occurred. “Overcrowding of chariots by sevaks (servitors) has been a cause of concern. They should learn a lesson from the incident. The temple managing committee would deliberate on the issue and try to fix the problem before Rath Yatra 2025,” he said.
The temple administration had prepared a standard operating procedure on the number of servitors to be present on the chariots and perform Pahandi. Altogether 74 people (60 servitors and temple staff and 14 ghantuas who beat gongs and cymbals) would be present on Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra, 62 people (50 servitors and temple staff, and 12 ghantuas) on Darpadalana chariot of Devi Subhadra and 86 people (16 ghantuas and 70 servitors and temple staff) on Lord Jagannath’s chariot Nandighosh.
“We found blatant violation of the guidelines. A huge number of servitors boarded the chariots and caused chaos and indiscipline. The servitors were busy flaunting themselves in front of TV cameras and neglected the Pahandi ritual. Police and temple administration did not take any steps to ensure the chariots were less crowded,” said Priyadarshan Pattnaik, convener of Jagannath Sena, a social outfit.