By Biswaraj Pattnaik, December 11, 2015 : “We will become human bombs if the government tries to make us unhappy by abolishing our hereditary right to be servitor or popularly known as sevayat, no matter what we do. We are privileged to extract money from devotees who must seek our help in getting ‘darshan’ and offering ‘bhog’.”

This was uttered by agitating servitors of the Jagannath temple the moment word went round that the commission engaged to recommend reforms believably have stressed abolishing the hereditary rights to be considered servitor without any skill or knowledge of hospitality the way servitors display at most famous temples of India.

Strangely, this ‘terror threat’ has been taken lightly by the administration and the police. Not a single ‘Servitor terrorist’ has been nabbed after the leading Odia daily ‘the Samaja’ carried the horror story a couple days ago as headline news on the front page.

India is a secular country. Each religion or faith is respected alike without partiality or prejudice by the government agencies and authorities who cannot interfere in the age old religious matters or issues which are expected to be managed and resolved by the religious entities as chosen by the community. But if any practice or convention affects the public life adversely, the government can take action, very severe if need be to protect the ordinary people in trouble posed by crooks in the religious outfits or systems.

The Temple Act would be deemed unconstitutional if it permits anti-devotee activities of any kind. The Jagannath Temple Act of 1955, despite various pro-devotee components remains deficient in mechanisms to tackle with temple-related crooks and rogues. The ordinary devotee is never told what his rights are and how he can ward off or have punished rogues and frauds fleecing them. Hardly do people know the Supreme court ruling of since it has not been made public.

In 1997 the apex court had made it clear that no servitor would have any right over any kind of offering by devotees to the deities- cash, kind or landed property. The government is expected to provide security, sanitation and law and order facilities wherever administration has been taken over.

The most famous temples of Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere are run by trusts who ensure no individual servitor is looting devotees or fleecing them for extortion. Devotees at these temples do not even get to know or see priests at work let alone be bothered or pestered by them. But in Puri the servitors are born like monarchs and princes and the rogues among them who outnumber the good ones, engage in looting, extortion and cheating.

After Prabhupada, the founder of Iscon popularised the car festival, the Daita servitors became predominantly visible for a month when the Deities come out in the open, and with support from some wicked politicians and police officials posed as the priest class ‘Paandas’ who are necessarily Brahmin by caste with the sacred thread worn across the torso.

Several daitas and Brahmin priests have amassed wealth by various means by engaging in trading, hotel business, property dealing, employment with government and corporate agencies and any other profit activity that can never bring them back to the temple for rendering even the most minimum service. As per norms, even lawyers would lose license if making money in any other business than law practice.

But Puri servitors can do everything and yet remain servitors to make big kills in one day or week deals. A Daitapati Nijog member joined BJD party and became the chairman of Odisha Coir Board. Odias did not like a virtually illiterate servitor being placed as an important state corporation office bearer because he is not able to read or write properly even today.

The people of Odisha are keen that the Temple Law be amended, the hereditary right of the servitors abolished and any servitor engaging in profit activities outside the temple service domain be dismissed without the right to appeal for forgiveness. In 1952, the government of Odisha took control of the temple administration only because the King messed up and squandered the temple funds on personal pleasure and conducting himself irresponsibly about the rituals and the survival of the Servitors.

In the past, Hindus have reformed their society by abolishing ‘Sati’ (widow burning) and child marriage. So reforms in the Jagannath Temple rituals and practices must be made without delay.

The first sevayat of Lord Jagannath is Gajapati, the king of Puri. The major ritual is to sweep the three chariot platforms of the Deities with a golden broomstick. Patjoshi Mohapatra is the head of all priestly Servitors, entrusted with the functions of ensuring that the Servitors perform their duties properly and rites of temple are observed dot on time. Bhitara-Chhu Mohapatra looks after the sanctity of the Bhog being offered to the deities and also to the cleanliness of the temple premises. Taluchha Mohapatra looks after the cleanliness of the kitchen. Mudirath performs all works of the King in latter’s absence. The Pujapandas chants Vedic Mantras and performs Japas and offering. Puspalaks dress put dress and smear sandal wood paste etc on the Deities. Khuntias guard the divine bodies.

The Mekaps are in charge of different store articles. Pratiharis keep guard over different strategic points. Suars cook the food offerings. Karans keep the accounts of all cash and materials. Bhitara Gaini Seva (service) is performed by the Debadasis who sing songs before the deities retire in bed at night. The Daitas perform all duties during Snana Purnima and Ratha Yatra (Car Festival) and play an important role during Nabakalebar. They claim to be the decedents of the Shabara chieftain Biswabasu, who worshiped Jagannath before the Lord came to this temple.

Nearly 75 such sevayats perform their functions daily and without any salary. They are only entitled to get a portion of the total bhoga or offerings. This portion is known as ‘Khei’. A few sevayats also get cash rewards from the management for job well done.

There are 119 categories of servitors at the temple according to the Record of Rights.

A “Hundi” (donation collection cask) has been placed in the Jagamohan area since August 1983. 5% of the Hundi earnings from bank deposit goes to the Servitors Welfare Fund apart from earning from several other sources.

The new chief secretary of Odisha said immediately after his coronation that implementing the schemes of the government would be his prime duty. He may have forgotten that the ‘Niramaya’ scheme is a grandly popular scheme to provide patients with free drugs. But the Niramaya outfits are all empty-shelved. Cheap ordinary drugs are not available ever, let alone expensive life saving drugs.

Similarly, farmers have not been told clearly how their crops can be insured. No government functionary seems to be aware of the scheme. Farmers death, wrong or right, can be prevented fully if the crop insurance is made available with adequate information dissemination and support services. Further, the chief secretary would do great good to the people if ‘gutkha’, polythene and spurious liquor , which are virtually considered contraband in Odisha, vanish completely from public glare. These are some of the long pending government schemes which the authorities have never bothered to implement. The incumbent chief secretary has to keep his promise.

The Jagannath Temple Act amendment is an an extremely overdue move. There are nearly five thousand servitors roaming in and around the temple when only seventy five are required on one day- that too not at a time. On lean seasons one gets to see more servitors than devotees as the number of the tormenting community is growing in leaps.

Very importantly, the chief administrator of the temple can have all the Nabakalebara blemishes expunged once he works seriously in getting the hereditary rights of the never- preforming servitor family members engaged in reaping money in non-temple activities. The Gajapati king was the owner-custodian of the temple as per the ROR once upon a time. But the government of Odisha removed him from management because devotees and servitors suffered alike when the Gajapati neglected duty and squandered temple money apart from messing up the system in place. He fought against the government to be declared the vanquished at all courts of law.

Similarly, in larger public interest, the hereditary rights must be abolished. Only those exclusively dependent on the temple services may get a decent salary and other benefits commensurate with their contribution. The extremely poor ones too must be rehabilitated.

The government would gain immense popularity if a most desired amendment is made in good time. The servitor menace would go thereby turning the nearly invincible BJD party a permanent outfit of power in Odisha.

Jai Jagannath!