Picture by Pradip Sanyal

In traditional yellow attire, 24-year-old Kirti Prakash Das Mahapatra blends into the crowd of servitors at the Jagannath temple. It is hard to imagine that he is the same person sitting in an air-conditioned office in Bhubaneswar a month ago, dressed up like any other corporate professional.

But when it comes to serving the Lords during rath yatra, he gets into his role of a loyal daitapati (servitor) with ease. Like Kirti Prakash, six other young working professionals keep themselves busy with the rituals and service in the temple from Jyestha shukla trayodasi to Niladribije (from June 13 to July 14).

During this period, they forget Facebook and go through the strict rules as observed by other regular servitors. This, however, is not a new thing for them as most of them have been involved in this act since childhood.

“I have been serving the Lord for the last 10 years and this is a part of our tradition. The spirit to serve God always brings us here and I can never compromise with that,” said Kirti, a postgraduate diploma holder in management.

Similarly, Anath Das Mahapatra, who works as the zonal head of a marketing company in Mumbai, believes the satisfaction associated with serving God cannot be compared with any other job.

“It is Lord’s will that we come to serve him year after year. No force can stop us from performing our duties,” he added.

These people maintain a fine balance between their professional work and their duty on rath yatra. The traditional attires they have to don during the rituals are completely different from the outfits they wear to work. In place of a tie, they put on metals necklaces. But they seem to adjust with the new outfits quite comfortably and walk barefoot inside the temple premises throughout this one month.

They have no complains because they consider it their duty and serve the deities of the Puri temple with utmost faithfulness. “We have been doing this since our childhood so there is no discomfort switching over to our traditional side,” said Sanjeev Daitapati, who works as director of a jewellery company in Mumbai. “This is a tradition which our ancestors used to perform for the God. So, how can we discontinue it? Education tells you never to forget your traditions,” said Jagdish Das Mahapatra, who owns a transport company in Sambalpur. “These traditions would create an exemplary image of the Hindu religion,” he added.

Premananda Das Mahapatra, secretary of Daitapati Niyoga Committee, said this trend shows the devotion of the youth towards God. “I hope this tradition would continue in future as there is nothing as holy as serving the Lord,” he said.