Cuttack, Aug. 11: Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati has informed Orissa High Court that allowing devotees to climb atop the chariots and touch the idols of Lord Jagannath and his siblings during rath yatra "was a practice of recent origin initiated by some sevaks (servitors) for purely commercial benefit".
In an affidavit, he has said that sevaks, who are also known as daitapatis, have been assigned certain services of deities during rath yatra. However, all the nitis (rituals) and seva pujas (service prayers) of the deities when they are on the chariots have to be performed only by the respective sevaks who are engaged in the daily service of the deities as per record of rights.
"Some of the daitapati sevaks, for purely commercial benefit, used to clandestinely allow selected devotees, on receipt of consideration, to climb atop raths for a darshan of the deities or to touch them by means of temporary ladders at the cost of safety and security not only of the deities, but also of the jatris (those on board the chariot)", the affidavit said.
The Shankaracharya also said that "the record of rights does not state as to who are authorised to climb upon the chariots as this was not a practice sanctioned by either the shastras, the Puranas or the temple traditions".
After the consecration of Nischalananda Saraswati as the 145th Shankaracharya of Gobardhan Pith Mutt, Puri, in 1992, the temple managing committee passed a resolution for making necessary arrangements for him to have darshan of the deities atop the chariots during car festivals as per tradition without any restriction along with his acolytes, who, at any given point of time, will not be more than six persons. "The decision was never challenged being consistent with the age-old tradition, customs and usages of the temple," the Shankaracharya said through the affidavit.
The 45-page affidavit was filed yesterday by the power of attorney holder of the Shankaracharya, Jyoti Prakash Mohapatra of Puri, in response to the notice the high court had issued to the seer on June 27. The notice was issued on a PIL that had challenged the prohibition imposed on climbing of devotees on to the chariots and touching the deities during rath yatra on the basis of the Puri Shankaracharya's opinion.
Taking note of the affidavit, the division bench Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Biswajit Mohanty posted the matter to September 6 for hearing.
The affidavit mentioned that several accidents had taken place when the temple administration introduced steel ladders for devotees to climb on to the chariots for darshan of the deities at Gundicha Temple during the car festival in 2006. The temple administration decided to do away with the steel ladders after the practice of allowing devotees to climb atop the chariots "resulted in conflict between sevaks and police" during the 2011 rath yatra.
Steel ladders were reinstalled during the rath yatra in 2012 allegedly "due to insistence of the daitapatis". That year, a foreigner devotee who had climbed onto the chariot to have darshan of the deities was assaulted and brought down by temple employees.
The temple administration had subsequently referred the issue of the entry of the foreigner to the Puri Shankar-acharya and sought his opinion as to whether non-Hindus could be permitted to climb onto the chariots. Later, the administration also sought the Shankaracharya's opinion as to who is authorised to climb onto the chariots. The Shan-karacharya's opinion was sought as he was the final adviser on the issue of rituals of the deities according to the statutorily recognised record of rights.
In his first opinion, he had said that tradition forbade devotees, non-Hindus and the Hindus alike, from climbing onto the chariots to have darshan or to touch the deities. The Shankaracharya had also said that only sevaks connected with seva puja of the deities on that day were authorised to climb onto the chariots for performance of necessary rituals. In his opinion in 2013, he had said: "None other than the sevaks (who perform rituals on the chariots), the Shankar-acharya and the Gajapati Maharaja are authorised to climb onto the chariots and the devotees should have darshan from the Badadanda without climbing on to the chariots."
On November 11, 2013, the temple managing committee had unanimously accepted the Shankaracharya's decision and implemented it during the rath yatra in 2014.
