Nepal's last king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev reached here on a six-day visit to Odisha to attend various religious programmes.
Official sources said he is scheduled to inaugurate the Mission Cow Goshala at Rathipur near Jatani today and will visit the Lingaraj Temple here and Sri Krishna Temple at Sakshigopal tomorrow.
Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev will visit the pilgrim town of Puri on February 9 to attend a programme commemorating the silver jubilee of Pattabhisheka of Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.
On February 11 he will visit Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri where he has the special privilege of performing the 'aarati' of the diety atop the Ratna Singhasan of the Srimandir and is even allowed to touch the idols of the Holy Trinity.
The king of Puri Gajapati Divya Singh Dev and representatives of Shree Jaganath Temple Administration (SJTA) will receive the last Nepal king at the Lion's Gate of the temple, which will be closed to the public from 9.30 am to 12 noon that day, the officials said.
He will return from Odisha on February 12, the sources said.
There are deep spiritual ties between Odisha and Nepal. Adi Shankaracharya had established the rituals and practices in both Jagannath and Pashupatinath temples and Nepal, which comes under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Puri Shankaracharya's Govardhan Math.
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