This development comes at a time when temple priests have been opposing the move to install rat repellent machines on the ground saying it will disturb the sleep of the temple deities at night
Rodent menace continues to affect the Jagannath temple in Puri as rats have destroyed the attires of deities placed inside the sacred altar.
This development comes at a time when temple priests have been opposing the move to install rat repellent machines on the ground saying it will disturb the sleep of the temple deities at night.
A temple servitor said during Khasapada Niti on Monday, he found that the rats had nibbled away valuable attires of the gods and devoured flowers offered to them.
“Though the idols are safe for the time being, the rats nibbling away the attire of the gods has become a huge menace,” the servitor said.
Puspalaks or Singhari servitors dress up the deities with clothes and flowers but rats and cockroaches continue to destroy them.
The servitors have now demanded a steel grille around the idols to stop the rodent menace.
Recently, the servitors of the Jagannath temple had refused to use a rat repellent machine inside the sanctum sanctorum as it was making a humming noise which would disturb the deities in their sleep.
A devotee had donated a rat repellent machine which the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration wanted to keep it in the sanctum sanctorum to keep the rodents away.
The temple administration was forced to remove the rat repellent machine after the temple servitors raised objection.
The administration has also decided to use narrow-headed pitchers with jaggery inside them to trap rats.
Bhaskar Mishra, a researcher in the Jagannath culture said the servitors are not permitted to kill animals or poison them inside the temple.
