By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 12, 2015 :

Hundreds of devotees on Sunday made a beeline for Gadakuntunia village under Balakati block, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, where the daru (neem tree) is identified for construction of the idol of Lord Sudarshan, one of the four major idols of Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri, is located.

There has been a mad rush of people following the formal announcement about the location of the daru for Lord Sudarshan on Saturday mid-night.

The declaration with regard to the location of three other darus to be used for making of idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra will be announced phase-wise, officials said.

The old idols of the deities will be replaced by the new idols this year as a part of Nabakalebara festival or re-embodiment of the deities.

By afternoon, the crowd had swelled to more than a thousand as people from far and wide descended on this nondescript village that has now carved out its name into the pantheon of the Cult of Jagannath.

People have been praying, chanting hymns and paying obeisance to the daru by lying prostrate before it.

Somnath Behera, an old local servitor of the village, who had been worshipping the tree since 1999 super cyclone , said he had a feeling that the tree is meant for the Lord since the time he first came to the village,

“There was nothing in this area except this tree when I had first arrived at the village. Not a single leaf of this huge tree was damaged in the devastating super cyclone in 1999,” he said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

The ailing old servitor, who could not see the daru after hearing the news, said he used to take bath at the Prachi river every day since his stay at the village.

“As there were snakes living around this tree, people of the village used to avoid this route. But watching this tree and its symptoms, I had a distinct feeling that it is meant for the Lord. I started offering flowers and water to the tree every day after taking bath at the river,” he said.

Suresh Mohapatra, the chief administrator of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) who made the announcement last night, himself arrived at the village this morning with senior officials.

Among others, the Banajaga Yatra dalapati (team leader) Haladhar Dasmohapatra, Twin City police commissioner RP Sharma were also present at the site.

Tight security arrangements have been made at the place with deployment of four platoons of police force to maintain law and order.