Three one-year-old boys enlisted as servitors of Jagannath Temple in Puri

The three children, aged around one year, will now offer priestly services at the famous Jagannath temple in Puri and will be entitled to an annual remuneration ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

In keeping with the tradition, 10-month-old Balaldeb Dasmohapatra, one-year-old Ekanshu Dasmohapatra and another child of around the same age were officially accepted as servants of the Jagganath temple on Wednesday.

These children belong to the Daitapati Nijog, a prominent community of servants who perform the main rituals during the Hindu chariot festival Rath Yatra.

The induction ceremony of the three children was held in the temple's isolation room (Anasara Ghara), where the deities remained isolated since June 4.

According to a senior Daitapati servant and Jagannath temple management committee member Durga Dasmohapatra, traditionally when a male child is born in a Daitapati servant's family, he is put into "the service of the Lord on any day during the 15-day Anasara". period (15 days before Rath Yatra)'.

"Children who are more than 21 days old at the time of initiation of the Anasara deity ritual are eligible for induction into our community," he added.