Bhubaneswar34 minutes ago
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The temple of Jagannath Puri was built in the 12th century. – file photo
Rats have created terror in the Puri Jagannath Temple of Odisha. Rats have left the temple administration worried by tearing the clothes of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra. The sevadars are worried that the items in the sanctum sanctorum and the wooden idols of the deities in the Srimandir are in danger from the rats.
According to Satyanarayan Pushpalak, a sevadar, ‘it has become difficult to perform rituals amidst the rats and their filth. Rats are destroying the clothes and garlands of the deities. They are spoiling the face of the gods.
Not only rats but also scorpions are troubling
Sevadar Bijaykrishna Pushpalak said, “We will catch the rats and drive them out. Not only rats, there are scorpions too. We will make arrangements to drive them out. We are not allowed to kill or poison animals inside the temple, so Rats are caught alive and released outside.”
According to reports, the sevadars said that they are using mousetraps to trap the rats. Rats trapped in the trap are being taken out of the temple. Significantly, some animals live in the temple premises as they get sufficient amount of leftover Mahaprasad.
Lord Jagannath comes out of the Srimandir once a year on the day of Rath Yatra.
small holes made in the sanctum sanctorum
Bhagban Panda, another sevadar, said that the rats had made small holes between the stones placed on the floor which could pose a threat to the structure. The temple was closed for a few months from 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time the number of rats and cockroaches in the temple increased a lot.
However, temple administrator Jitendra Sahoo has said that the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) is aware of the menace of rats and there is no need to panic. The deities are regularly polished with sandalwood and camphor.