Bhubaneswar: President Ram Nath Kovind had his moment of travel in time when a priest at the Jagannath temple in Puri showed him a 1947 signature of his father.

Kovind's father had visited the temple on October 9, 1947, when the President was around 1-2 years old.

"I am fortunate to visit here and have darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri where my father had visited in 1947," Kovind said on Sunday.

Later, the President attended the centenary celebration of Puri's Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, where he released Rs 10 and Rs 1,000 commemorative coins on Lord Jagannath's Nabakalebar, which was held in 2015.

Earlier, the Centre had announced the release of coins of Rs 10 and Rs 1,000 denominations to mark the symbolic death and birth of the deities including Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra.

Speaking at the event, Kovind said that Puri was the vidyanagari (the city of learning) and Kashi of the east.

During his trip to Puri, Kovind, along with his wife Savita, visited the Jagannath temple and offered prayers.

Puri king Gajapati Dibya Singh Deb and other dignitaries welcomed Kovind at the temple's entrance.

After visiting the temple, Kovind said: "Today, I had a darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri and prayed for peace, prosperity for the people of the country." Puri district administration had made elaborate arrangements for his visit. For Kovind's visit, the temple was closed to common devotees for two hours. On this occasion, the Jagannath temple administration presented him a pattachitra of Lord Jagananth.

He asked the temple authorities to keep the premises clean.

Governor S.C. Jamir, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, higher education minister Ananta Das, collector Aravind Agarwal, and revenue minister Maheswar Mohanty were present during Kovind's Puri trip.