Puri December 8 :The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Tuesday clarified that the ornate sun and moon which was allegedly taken to the house of a servitor was not part of Nagarjuna Besha of the Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n
The clarification came through a press release that stated, “All the costumes are preserved in Niladri Vihar museum after completion of the rituals and are now completely safe.”<\/p>\n
Talking to media, SJTA administrator (rituals), Jitendra Sahu said, “A day after the culmination of holy Nagarjuna Besha, a man was spotted carrying the ornate moon and sun made by thermocol outside Srimandir.<\/p>\n
Taking the sensitivity of the matter into account, the SJTA chief had ordered a probe.”<\/p>\n
“The probe revealed that the Srimandir Commander provided the list of attires to the Chief artisan, who in turn made the same at the backyard of Balaram Khuntia, the Chakrahote from Harachandi Sahi in Puri who was entrusted with making the attires for the Trinity’s Nagarjuna Besha,” said Sahu.”<\/p>\n
“The issue started after the chief carpenter made two extra thermocol ornates which were rejected by the Srimandir servitor during Nagarjuna Besha because only gold plated Sun and Moon ornates were allowed as per the tradition. So only the attires ordered by the Commander were worn by the Trinity, not flouting any rules,” clarified Sahu.<\/p>\n
The SJTA made it clear that the set of ornates in question was not the one that was worn by the Trinity.<\/p>\n
Notably, the SJTA had ordered a probe after an employee of the temple was seen carrying a decorative piece used in the Nagarjuna Besha of Lord Jagannath to the house of a senior servitor of the 12th century shrine.<\/p>\n