Dress code for devotees at Jagannath temple in Puri from Jan 1; details

The Jagannath temple police and the temple servitors would keep an eye on anyone wearing indecent clothes, said a temple official

Devotees will be required to wear 'decent' clothing to enter the Jagannath temple in Odisha's Puri beginning January 1, said a senior temple official.

"Devotees should wear traditional clothes while visiting Jagannath temple. They should not wear clothes such as shorts, ripped jeans and skirts. Dress code has been introduced at several shrines across the country," Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, or SJTA chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

A second temple official said the awareness campaigns to ask devotees to wear "decent clothes" in the temple will start from Tuesday. "The Jagannath temple police and the temple servitors would keep an eye on anyone wearing indecent clothes," the official added.

The move comes two years after the temple administration introduced a dress code for servitors from October 20, 2021. According to the dress code, all servitors now wear dhoti, towel, and patta while performing puja.

The Daitapati Nijog, a servitor's body in Puri Srimandir, has been demanding a dress code for the devotees visiting the temple, complaining that many came to the temple in shorts that hurt religious sentiments of other devotees.

The Nijog demanded that the devotees who arrive here in Western attire should have to change to enter the temple.

Highlighting that Puri Jagannath temple is an important religious site among four dhams, senior servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra said, "Thousands of devotees visit Puri for the darshan of Lord Jagannath. Therefore, implementing a dress code for all devotees is essential to uphold the temple's spirituality and sanctity."

(With agency input)