The Sebayet Committee has banned usage of mobile phones and photography inside the sanctum of the Tarapith temple in Birbhum district. Taramoy Mukherjee, president of Sebayet Committee of Tarapith temple told The Statesman that from today, cell phones are banned inside the sanctum of the temple and even photography has been strictly prohibited. “We have already served notices on various sides of the temple and have urged everybody visiting this temple to cooperate with us. This will help everybody in the days to come,” he added. In the notice pasted at several places of the temple it has been stated that from Monday (18 December 2023) no photography, selfies will be allowed for the devotees with the idol inside the sanctum.
Even offering flowers inside the sanctum by the devotees have been disallowed from today. The devotees instead will offer puja at a designated place outside the sanctum and will only be allowed to just see the idol after completion of the puja. This decision has been taken because the sanctum of the temple was becoming dirty with the flowers, vermillion and alta thrown by the devotees to the idol of Goddess Tarama.
There have been several quarrels inside the sanctum between the devotees and the sebayets regarding selfies with the idol. The new rules will help smooth passage of the devotees and take minimum time to worship the idol inside the sanctum and the long queues will be a thing of the past. He further said that the devotees are facing problems to visit the temple town of Tarapith as many trains like Inter City, Ganadevta Express are not operating at present. Many devotees used to visit the temple during this winter season availing these trains, he added. Tarapith is one of the main Shaktipeeths in India.