Offerings to the Lord are not being made at the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar, Odisha since Monday (January 13, 2025) following a dispute between two groups of sevadars. Due to mutual differences between two groups of sevadars, the rituals of Makar Sankranti could not be performed.
it Controversy Badu Nijog and Mahasura Nijog is going on among the sevadars. This controversy has started regarding Makar Sankranti only. During Makar Sankranti, special rituals take place at the Lingaraja temple for three days. All the rituals start with ‘Pushyabhishek Sandhya Dhoop’ on the eve of Makar Sankranti at Lingaraj Temple.
During this, the deity installed in the temple was brought out of the sanctum sanctorum and placed on top of the ‘Makar Mandap’ located in the premises of Lingaraj temple. seated goes. On the day of Makar Sankranti, ‘Makar Ghee’ or ‘Ghrit Kamla’ is offered to the deity in the ‘Ghrit Kamla Lagi’ ritual. This Makar Ghee is prepared from the milk collected from some specific families of Badu Sahi.
It is believed that ‘Ghrit Kamla’ is applied to provide relief to the deity from the dryness of winter. badu nijog sevadar this milk boiling And prepare ghee. After this, when the ghee comes out, it is offered in the form of ghee lotus by the Badu Nijog and Mahasura Nijog servants.
On Monday, the Badu Nijog Sevadars insisted that they would offer ghee to the Mahasura Sevadars without accompanying them. Mahasura Sevadars opposed this. Due to this, Ghee Kamala was not offered after ‘Pushyabhishek Sandhya Dhoop’. The deity is seated in the Makar Mandap only for two days. The temple is open to devotees but rituals are suspended.
A sevadar of the Badu Nijog group said, “We have been performing this ritual every year and the temple administration is also aware of it. Actually, the ghee offered to the Lord is distributed among the Badu Nijog families. If the members of Mahasuara Nijog claim the ritual only on the basis of cooking ghee, then it will not be allowed.”
The temple administration is trying to calm the dispute, but neither side is ready to back down. Biranchi Narayan, secretary of Brahmin Nijog, while talking about the Ghrit Kamla ritual, said that the first round of Ghrit Kamla Laagi is done by the Mahsura Sevadars and then the Badu Sevadars take over.
a high level to settle the dispute meeting Has also been done. Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan, Commissioner, Khurda Collector, Secretary of Law Department, local MLA and servants of Badu Nijog were present in this meeting. No solution was found even in the meeting.
#WATCH , #Bhubaneswar Dispute between Lingaraj Temple servitors: "An emergency meeting of the Trust Board will be held this afternoon where servitors will be requested to resume the rituals… There are some legal glitches in the temple Satwalipi… Government is contemplating… pic.twitter.com/QYAGN5tz6f
— Argus News (@ArgusNews_in) January 15, 2025
The meeting again will be held in the presence of ‘Brahmin Nijogs’ as they were not present in the earlier meeting and the decision was stalled. The Law Minister also announced an investigation into the matter and said that the state government will get the investigation done through a retired High Court judge. The Law Minister will call a meeting of the Trust Board and will try to restart Bhog Prasad.
The Law Minister has given a strict warning to both the parties. He said that if the dispute is not resolved then strict action will be taken. Law Minister Harichandan said, “This matter is extremely condemnable. If there was really a problem, they could sit together and find a solution. Stopping the rituals of Lord Lingaraja is highly condemnable.”
The standoff has angered devotees and they have condemned both the groups and demanded action against them. An angry devotee said, “Lord Lingaraja is hungry for the last three days. It is because of the services that Lord Lingaraj has to remain hungry. This is highly condemnable.”
