Chairman of the Puri Jagannath Temple’s managing committee, Dibyasingha Deb, has criticised a plan by ISKCON to host festivals of Lord Jagannath in the US city of Houston, Texas, in early November, saying it is “contrary to scriptural injunctions and well-established tradition”. ISKCON plans to hold Lord Jagannath’s ‘Snana Yatra’ on November 3 and ‘Rath Yatra’ on November 9. In a letter to Thakur Dasa, president of the ISKCON temple at Houston, Deb said the festivals of Lord Jagannath, like the festivals of Lord Krishna, must be celebrated uniformly throughout the world in accordance with scriptures and tradition. “Over several decades, having regard to the religious sentiments of devotees around the world, the Managing Committee of Shree Jagannatha Temple at Puri, and I personally, have been interacting with ISKCON to hold Shree Jagannatha Ratha Yatra through their centres worldwide in accordance with the prescription of scriptures and tradition,” said Deb. “In sacred Skanda Purana, Lord Jagannatha Himself instructs King Indradyumna to perform His Snana Yatra on the full Moon day of the month of Jyestha (Jyestha Poornima). Accordingly, since time immemorial, Snana Yatras of Lord Jagannatha have been celebrated once every year at the Moola-peetha Shree Jagannatha Temple, Puri, and elsewhere only on Jyestha Poornima to commemorate the Lord's birthday,” Deb said. “Under no circumstance will any devotee of Shree Krishna ever think of celebrating Shree Krishna Janmashtami on any day of the year contrary to scriptures and tradition. Why are we then doing so in the case of Lord Jagannatha?” he asked. Deb also said that the siblings deities are taken outside the temple only on two occasions — Snana Yatra and Rath Yatra — and that doing so on any other day is not sanctioned either by scriptures or tradition. Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said the temple administration would discuss the issue with ISKCON authorities.
