It's Official Daru at Adhanga for Subhadra

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JAGATSINGHPUR:  The holy Neem tree at the Nilakantheswar temple in Adhanga under Biridi block of Jagatsinghpur district, which was identified by Bidyapati and Biswabasu for carving a new idol of Devi Subhadra for Nabakalebara, was officially confirmed as the Daru for the Devi on Friday. Chief Administrator of Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) at Puri Suresh Chandra Mohapatra made a formal announcement in this regard here.

This is the second Daru identified in the district for the Trinity after Lord Balabhadra’s Daru was found in front of Maa Sarala temple at Kanakpur.

Mohapatra along with Collector Satya Kumar Mallick and other officials visited the site on Friday morning and instructed the district officials for erection of barricade around the holy tree. The location for construction of Sabarapalli and Yajna Mandap near the temple has also been identified. While Sabarapalli will serve as temporary home of the Daitapatis, various rituals for cutting the tree will be performed at Yajna Mandap. Facilities have been put in place for traffic management, security and smooth ‘darshan’ of the Daru by the devotees. The tree is surrounded by agricultural land.

Mohapatra, who reviewed the progress of rituals for felling of Daru for Lord Balabhadra on Thursday, said the Dalapati of the Banajaga Yatra team, Haladhar Dasmohapatra had informed the SJTA about the location of Devi Subhadra’s Daru on Thursday night following which, the formal announcement was made. Earlier, Dasmohapatra and Daitapatis had visited the Nilakantheswar temple four times to find out the holy symbols on the Daru.

As prescribed by the Nabakalebara manual, the holy tree has symbols of ‘Sankha’, ‘Chakra’ and ‘Padma’. There is an ant hill with cobras in them, a pond and a burial ground, 200 metres from the site.

Servitor of Nilakantheswar temple Naba Kishore Roul said the holy tree is around a century old and has all the holy signs for Devi Subhadra’s Daru. “Another attraction of this holy tree is that it has the symbol of a lion’s head. The timber is light yellow in colour and there is no nest of birds on the tree. None of the branches has been damaged in natural calamities over the years,” he added.

During the Nabakalebara in 1996, the Banajaga team had selected Daru for idols of Lord Jagannath and Devi Subhadra at Kharipadia village and Nilakantheswar temple of Adhang respectively but those were rejected at the last moment.

Meanwhile, villagers have come forward to ensure hassle-free visit of devotees to the Nilakantheswar temple for ‘darshan’ of Daru. They have put up route charts at strategic locations on the approach road to Adhanga village. Local youths have been engaged to widen the narrow approach road.

The Collector said after ‘Daru Chhedana’ (felling of holy tree) for idol of Lord Balabhadra, the Banajaga Yatra team would proceed to Adhanga village within two to three days. “We will expedite construction of Sabarapalli and ‘Yajnashalla’ and focus is being laid on smooth traffic flow as the tree is located amidst an agricultural field. The tree has been barricaded,” he added.

As soon as the announcement on Daru was made, a mammoth gathering of devotees was witnessed near the temple to offer prayer to the holy tree.
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