Bhubaneswar, Oct 26: With the escalating disagreement among the servitor groups and deferment of rituals in the Shree Lingaraj Temple Bhubaneswar, the Commissioner of Endowment on Friday asked the Executive Officer (EO) to resolve the issues.
The Commission has also sought a report from the EO regarding the action taken against the offending servitors relating to the postponement of Lord Lingaraj’s rituals.
The Rituals of Lord Lingaraj in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar was reportedly deferred from Wednesday evening after a dispute among three Nijogs over land rights took an ugly turn.
Following no amicable settlement on the issue, the presiding lord and the side deities were left without offering any worship and bhogs. Apart from it, the other rituals of the deities were suspended after the Mangal Alati today.
Disruptions in daily rituals in Shree Lingaraj Temple are the fallout of a dispute over a piece of unsettled land belonging to Lord Lingaraj.
Sources said that a few pieces of land belonging to the Lord Lingaraj which were enjoyed by the Pujapanda Nijog and Badu Nijog for years were ordered for reversal in pursuance of a court order. Meanwhile, the Badu Nijog constructed a market complex here on the basis of the order. However, the two former Nijogs challenged it in the court and urged the Endowment Commission to return back the said landed properties to them.
After an oral altercation over the pending land issue on Thursday , the Puja Panda Nijog and the Brahmin Nijog stopped performing the puja and offering any bhogs to the deities, source added.
Comments of either the endowment officials or the office bearers of the Nijogs in this connection are yet to be received.
