July 7: With the sun shining brightly and humidity becoming unbearable, devotees had solace from heat thanks to police personnel who distributed abhada torani among the thirsty pilgrims gathered near Gundicha temple on the occasion of bahuda yatra.

The police officials said that though they were deployed to control crowd, they preferred to distribute this holy fermented rice water extract locally known as abhada torani that gives relief from scorching heat.

Director general of police Sanjeev Marik inaugurated the stall near the temple and within no time devotees made beelines there to have their share of the abhada torani.

The Odisha Police Havildar, Constable and Sepoy Mahasangh had established the kiosk — Abhada torani bantan Kendra, which is run by volunteers of the police force.

“Seeing our stern attitude during such events, there are chances of people mistaking us as rude. This is an effort from us to increase our closeness with the common people. There is a saying that ‘providing water to a thirsty man is the best virtue and providing Jagannath’s abhada torani will definitely yield us good result,” said an official of the Mahasangh’s Puri district branch.

The service has started in 1995 with two such stalls along the grand road — one near Gundicha temple and another near the Lion’s gate or Singhadwar of Jagannath temple.

This divine drink is made of abhada and torani, which are both sacred in the Jagannath culture. Legend has it that the two ingredients are favourites of Lord Jagannath.

The policemen said that they mixed the divine prasad with curd, green chillies, lemon, ginger, curry leaves and jeera powder. As the day was hot, the distributors also mixed glucose with the drink to help the devotees fight the scorching sun and humid condition.

Subodha Senapati, a devotee from Balasore, was among the first few to taste abhada torani.

“Everybody here are providing tanka torani, but for the first time I got to drink abhada torani. It’s so tasty and it gives instant relief to stomach and replenishes the whole body. It is a wonderful initiative by the policemen,” said Senapati as he sipped the drink in biodegradable earthen pots locally known as oli.