Prez offers prayers at Puri temple
President Droupadi Murmu performed the ‘pinda daan’ ritual at the revered ‘Sweta Gan-ga’ tank in Puri on Wednesday morning and then visited the Jagannath temple. Murmu reached ‘Sweta Ganga’ at 7 am on the third day of her visit to the State after spending the night at the Lok Bhavan in Puri, and performed the ritual for the salvation of the souls of an-cestors.
After the rituals, the President reached the ‘Singhadwar’ of the 12th-century shrine at 7.40 am. She was received by Puri’s titular king, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Arabinda Kumar Padhee were also present. The temple was out of bounds for the public in view of the President’s visit.
Murmu, accompanied by her family, visited the ‘Garbha Griha’ or sanctum sanctorum of the temple through the ‘Dhukudi Dwara’ (southern gate) and had ‘darshan’ of the sibling deities -- Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra.
Padhee said this was Murmu’s fourth visit to the shrine after becoming the President. “She prayed at the sanctum sanctorum, offered ‘deepa’, and visited the seats of Maa Bimala and Maa Laxmi in the temple complex. A flag (‘patitapaban bana’) was hoisted atop the temple by the administration, seeking fulfilment of the President’s wishes,” he said.
After her ‘darshan’, the President walked to the people gathered in front of the temple and interacted with them. Elaborate security arrangements were made at the temple and in Puri town for Murmu’s visit. The temple administration presented Murmu a ‘khandua’ (sacred cloth) and a ‘patachitra’ painting.
The President arrived at the Puri helipad on Tuesday at around 4.50 pm and proceeded to Lok Bhavan, where she stayed overnight. Upon her arrival at the helipad, she was accorded a warm welcome by Chief Minister Majhi and Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida in the pres-ence of Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati.
The President enquired about the implementation of Mukhyamantri Kanya Bibaha Yojana dur-ing an interaction with Pravati Parida. The scheme was launched in the State on Tuesday. The Deputy Chief Minister briefed her on the details of the scheme.
