Puri temple makes dress code mandatory

Bhubaneswar: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration has asked the devotees visiting the iconic temple in Puri in Odisha to not wear clothes such as shorts, ripped jeans and skirts from Monday while entering the temple premises and said the police and the temple servitors would keep an eye on anyone wearing ‘indecent’ clothes.

Chief administrator of the temple Ranjan Kumar Das said the devotees should wear traditional clothes like trouser pants, churidar, salwar kameez and dhoti while entering the temple. “Similar dress codes are in place at several shrines across the country,” said Das.

“The Jagannath temple police and the temple servitors would keep an eye on anyone wearing indecent clothes,” he added.

The move comes two years after the temple administration introduced a dress code for the temple servitors from October 2021. The servitors now wear dhoti, towel, and patta while performing puja.

The Daitapati Nijog, a leading body of servitors in the temple, had been demanding a dress code for the devotees visiting the temple, complaining that many came to the temple in shorts that hurt religious sentiments of other devotees.