Bhubaneswar, July 13: Nischalanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Puri Gobardhan Peeth, will take part in the rath yatra on July 18 after the Jagannath temple administration had formally invited him to the car festival.
Six persons will accompany the seer.
In the formal invitation, the administration requested the Shankaracharya to board the three chariots with a six-member entourage.
"The Shankaracharya has accepted the invitation of the temple administration," said Manoj Rath, a spokesman for the Gobardhan Peeth.
The Shankaracharya had stayed away from the rath yatra festival last year following a controversy. He had given the opinion, at the behest of the temple administration that devotees should not be allowed to climb the chariot and touch the idols.
Later, a group of servitors are said to have made it clear that the Shankaracharya should enter the chariots without his entourage. The administration had subsequently asked the seer to bring only two of his associates.
The Shankaracharya was upset by the administration and did not participate in the festival. He accused the administration of not showing him respect.
This year the temple managing committee had a meeting on May 26 and the Gajapati Dibya Singh Deb, who is also the chairman of the managing committee, invited the seer to attend the snana purnima in June. He accepted the request and took part in the rituals at the snana mandap.
In another development, the priests announced the three deities have recovered from sickness today. The three deities were administered with medicines to recover from their illness and the traditional baidya prepared the medicines using roots of ten medicinal plants known as dasamula modaka. The medicines were offered by the Pati Mohapatra sevayats7.
Later, in the evening the Puri king was formally informed that the deities have recovered from their sickness.
A fact-finding team of the Congress visited Puri today to ascertain facts relating to the shifting of the statue of Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das near the Singhadwar.
