Puri, Dec 21 : lord Jagannath and his siblings were invited on Thursday for the inauguration of Sri mandir parikrama corridor scheduled for January 17 next.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had laid foundation stone for creation of 75 metre Parikrama corridor around the Meghanad Pacheri of the Sri Jagannath temple for devotees on November 24, 2021.
As prescribed by the temple astrologer on an auspicious time Temple chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das accompanied by members of the temple managing committee(MC), district collector Samarth Verma and many senior servitors went in a ceremonial procession from the temple office to Sri Jagannath temple to invite the lords to the function
With this the preliminary work for inauguration of Srimandir Parikrama corridor began on Thursday.
After inviting the Trinity the team also solicited the presence of other deities established in small temples inside the Srimandir premises.
A team of servitors led by Chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das will go to Ujjain(MP) on Friday to invite Swami Neeschalananda Saraswati the Sankaracharya of Puri Gobardhan Peeth as the seer has been camping there.
District Collector Samarth Verma has approved the list of invitees for the ceremony. The meeting constituted 31 teams to meet the VIPs and invite them for the inauguration.
While 14 teams will distribute invitation cards within the state, 17 teams will go to different parts of the country to invite the dignitaries, religious heads of various temples and shrines, mutts and important religious institutions.
Apart from servitors one senior officer will accompany the teams going outside the state.
It is resolved to invite priests and officer bearers of all the existing 746 Jagannath temples and 111 other temples located inside the state for the ceremony.
A special team will visit Nepal to invite the king who is ceremonially connected with the Sri Jagannath temple. Sankaracharyas of three other peethas will be ceremonially invited to attend the inauguration ceremony.
Scores of Mathadhisas and office bearers of famous temples of the country figured in the invitee list.
The invitation packet contains Mahaprasad , holy used cloths of the deity and the written invitation card the chief administrator of Sri Jagannath temple said soon after the meeting.
On December 26 a team of priests and Managing Committee members will go to Bhubaneswar and invite lord Lingaraj to the occasion. Soon a team will ceremonially invite the Gajapati King Dibyasingh Deb.
Almost all the MC members, Chhatisha nijog members, senior servitors besides temple officials participated in the meeting which approved the list of invitees, sources said.