Bhubaneswar: Thousands of devotees thronged the Jagannath temple in Puri to offer prayers to the Trinity after the administration threw open the Jagmohan (prayer hall) on Monday following a direction from Orissa High Court.

The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration opened the Jagmohan to devotees after almost two years after the Archaeological Survey Of India took up repair, including the sanctum sanctorum.

The devotees had been demanding opening of the Jagmohan for the past year. Later, the case reached Orissa High Court.

A five member team of Orissa High Court also inspected the shrine and submitted its report to the court. The temple administration will also submit its own report on the condition of the Jagmohan on April 19.

The opening of the Jagamohan, however, was not without lapses. The administration let visitors in only around 5.10pm after a tussle between the servitors and the administration over who should be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum. The Jagmohan was supposed to be open in the morning.

According to the court order, one servitor had to enter the sanctum sanctorum to perform rituals. However, as he could not make it because of ill health, the other servitors did not turn up to perform the job in his place.

"The entire process was delayed. Later, the collector and the temple's deputy chief administrator rushed to the temple to sort out the issue," a temple official said.

However, the sakala dhupa (morning ritual) was completed around 4.40am.

Temple public relations officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda said: "Though the Jagmohan was opened in the evening, the devotees got a glimpse of the Trinity from a distance."