Devotees will not have to pay to visit the Gundicha Temple here where Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra stay during the annual Rath Yatra, an official said on Friday.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has decided to make it free for all devotees to visit Gundicha Tempe and other places like ‘Narendra Puskarini’ (sacred pond), ‘Rohini Kunda’ (a tank inside the Jagannath temple in Puri) and ‘Koili Baikuntha’ (the temple crematorium where wooden idols of trinity are buried on Nabakalebara year, the official said.
The decision was taken at the SJTA management committee meeting on Thursday.
Though the temple will lose an annual earning of about Rs 7 crore, the SJTA announced that the devotees will not pay any amount as an entry fee from now onwards.
Earlier, each devotee was charged Rs 20 as a registration fee to get entry into Sri Gundicha Temple where the trinity stay during the annual Rath Yatra.
Narendra Puskarini is the most celebrated, picturesque and one of the large tanks of Odisha perhaps. Because of its close relationship with Jagannath Temple it is considered a holy tank among devotees. According to one legend ‘Narendra Deva’ brother of Gajapati Kapilendra Deva excavated this tank and it was named after him.
This holy tank is also known as ‘Chandana Puskarini’ because the famous ‘Chandana Yatra’ of Lord Jagannath is celebrated annually in this tank. Many medieval Oriya texts described the fame of this holy tank.
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