President Murmu offers prayers at Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: After a jam-packed Friday, President Droupadi Murmu paid obeisance to the Lord at Lingaraj Temple here on Saturday, the second day of her visit to Odisha.

In a slight deviation from her planned itinerary, the President disembarked at Bindu Sagar lake and walked barefoot to the 11th-century shrine amid tight security. Governor Ganeshi Lal was on hand to greet her at the temple.

According to sources, she performed Jalabhishek and poured milk on the Shivling inside the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

Murmu, accompanied by her daughter Itishree, remained inside the temple for approximately 40-45 minutes, during which time the gates were closed to general devotees. Apart from Kotha Bhoga prepared by the temple's Maha Suara servitors body and a Pata Uttaria, the temple trust presented her with a photograph of Lord Lingaraj's Damodar Vesha (silk shawl).

The President then flew to the ICAR-National Rice Research Institute in Cuttack on a special Indian Air Force flight. Before returning to Delhi, she is scheduled to inaugurate the second Indian Rice Congress.

She arrived in Bhubaneswar around 12 p.m. on Friday and attended the Foundation Day celebration of Jnanaprabha Mission, a charitable organization, at Utkal Mandap. Later that afternoon, she attended the 2nd Convocation of Rama Devi Women's University, which also happened to be her alma mater.

Murmu is returning to her home state for the second time since assuming the country's highest constitutional position in July of last year.