Berhampur: The priests of the 300-year-old Jagannath temple at Khallikote in Ganjam district, for the first time, had to fetch water from Nirmalajhara, a stream about 3km away, for the ceremonial baths of the sibling deities on Debasnana Purnima on Monday, as a 40ft-deep well, located inside the premises — the water of which was earlier used on the occasion — went dry this time, said the temple priest.The old well has dried up because of soaring temperature, depleted groundwater level and delayed monsoon. “Though a donor installed a borewell recently in view of the Debasnana Purnima, we also fetched some water from Nirmalajhara, where the water flows from a spring, for bathing Lord Jagannath, Lord Balaram and Devi Subhadra for the first time. The bath of the deities was performed using water from both the Nirmalajhara and the newly constructed borewell. The water of the Nirmalajhara is considered holy,” said Braja Kishore Panda, the main priest of the temple.Even for the daily rituals, they have been using water supplied by the govt in the last few years. “Now, we will use the borewell water for the daily rituals,” said Panda.A businessman in Berhampur, Siddharth Pattanaik, installed the borewell last week, after taking permission from the Khallikote tahasildar Maleswar Patra, who is also the chairman of the managing committee of the temple.
