A minimum of 351 servitors and 53 employees of Shree Jagannath Temple here have tested positive for COVID-19, a politician said.
A total of 404 persons engaged within the 12th century shrine have tested positive for the virus since August, said Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) administrator Ajay Jena said on Tuesday.
He said the Lord Jagannath’s rituals, however, are continuing as was common despite the absence of numerous servitors.
The Jagannath temple is closed for devotees since March thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The official said as most of the servitors are in home isolation after testing positive for the infection and there’s a shortage of knowledgeable people to perform rituals.
At least a gaggle of 13 priests each are required to perform rituals for the sibling deities – Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath. Therefore, the presence of 39 priests aside from other servitors are essential to perform daily rituals of the oldest Lord Vishnu Temple here, who is being worshipped since ages within the sort of Lord Jagannath.
The uniqueness of the Puri temple is that rituals are interconnected with one another , they begin from early hours till late within the night. If one ritual isn’t performed, next one couldn’t be performed as per the temple tradition, said Bhaskar Mishra, a researcher in Jagannath culture.
If more number of servitors test positive for the virus within the coming days, there could be a drag . The administration is considering a proposal to interact junior servitors, he said.
So far, a complete of 9,704 COVID-19 cases are detected in Puri district of which 1,255 cases are reported from Puri Municipality area alone. Of the 52 deaths reported within the district, nine hail from the Puri Municipality area. a minimum of three of the nine fatalities in Puri town are servitors engaged within the temple rituals, the district health officials said.
The administration had conducted COVID-19 test of all the servitors engaged within the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath. Then only two servitors had tested positive for COVID-19. However, the infection struck Puri a few month after the festival, a politician said, adding that the SJTA wont to provide homoeopathy preventive medicines to servitors’ families to stay them safe.
