The Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, July 10: Rituals at the temple of Lord Lingaraj stopped since last night following a major scuffle between the sevyatas (priests) and the temple administration on the issue of putting up barricades around the linga inside the sanctum sanctorum.

Thousands of devotees had to return without getting prasad offered to the deity.

The trouble began when the temple administration, with the help of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), set up grilles around the linga yesterday night following a 40-year-old directive of Orissa High Court.

The sanctum sanctorum consists of Linga and Shakti. While the Linga is the long stone, Shakti is the structure covering the linga from all sides. The Linga is considered as Shiva and Shakti as the energy, Goddess Parvati.

Temple administrator Abani Patnaik said the high court had in 1970 directed the authorities to set up grilles around the Linga to protect it from erosion.

“It has been found that devotees touch the deity and break the coconut on the rounded structure of Shakti, causing damage to it. To save it from further deterioration, the temple administration went ahead and put up the grilles,” he said.

In 1982, the authorities had fenced the structure, but it was dismantled by people not known to the administration, he said.

Patnaik said the administration had a meeting with sevayats on July 8 before the work began. The priests had agreed to the proposal.

However, the priests alleged that the administration had misinterpreted the court’s order. The court had directed that fencing should be done adjoining the raised structure.

“Now, the administration has set up the three-and-a-half feet high grille one-and-a-half feet away from the structure. If we allow it, the devotees would not find space inside the sanctum sanctorum to offer their puja,” said Bhagirathi Mohapatra, additional secretary of “Brahmuna Niyoga”, an organisation of priests.

“The temple administration is trying to divide the sevayat communities. We will not allow them to succeed in their plan,” said Mohapatra.

Swadhin Panda, a sevayat, said around 1,000 of them depend on the temple. “If the devotees are not able to touch the deity, no one would offer the pranami (offering) either to the deity or the sevayats. The entire sevayat community would be in trouble,” Panda said.

Tension prevailed in the Old Town. Tourists were also frustrated at not being able to get the prasad. Dipa Ghosh of Shyam Bazar in Calcutta, who reached in the morning to have a darshan, went away disappointed.

“This is my first visit to the temple. I was unable to get the prasad,” she said.

The temple administration called a meeting of sevayats this evening.

“We are hopeful that the meeting would reach a solution today,” Patnaik said.

The temple is more than 1,000 years old, dating back to the last decade of the eleventh century.