Seers and religious heads in Odisha on Thursday took umbrage at the recent incident of serving chicken biryani at a community feast here during a solar eclipse, by a group of people describing themselves as rationalists to bust "blind beliefs." At least four FIRs were filed in separate police stations in Puri and Cuttack by some religious outfits against the ‘rationalists’.

“They are ignorant. Their actions go against the basic tenets of Sanatan Dharma. The very food (chicken biryani) consumed by those people during the eclipse might be the bane of their lives,” said Shankaracharya of Puri Swami Nischalananda Saswati.