[In Pictures] Sacred Bathing Ritual Of Lords Of Jagannath Temple Held In Odisha’s Puri

Puri: Lakhs of devotees, including Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Puri MP Sambit Patra, witnessed the ceremonial bathing ritual of the sibling deities at Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Wednesday on the occasion of Debasnana Purnima.

Snana Yatra is an annual ritual held on Purnima (the full moon day) in the month of Jyeshtha according to the Hindu calendar. It is precursor to Rath Yatra slated for June 27.

The three deities, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath along with Sudarshan, were brought to ‘Snana Mandap’ (bathing altar), an elevated platform on the temple premises facing east overlooking the Bada Danda, in a ceremonial ‘pahandi’ (procession), which began at around 5 am.

The Snana Purnima rituals had begun on Monday night with Daita servitors, taking charge from regular priests, began preparations for the Pahandi of the Lords. They fixed ‘Senapatta’, a body armour made of ‘Baula’ wood on the deities on Tuesday night to minimise the stress during the Pahandi. Another group of servitors fixed Charmalas (huge ladders) to the Ratna Singhasan to facilitate the ceremony.

After installing the deities on the Snana Bedi, an elevated platform on the temple premises facing east overlooking the Bada Danda, Mangalalati, Mailam, Tadap Lagi and Abakash were performed by the servitors.

According to temple tradition, the three deities were then bathed with 108 pots of holy water drawn from the golden well located within the temple complex. All the pots, preserved in the ‘Bhoga Mandap’, are first purified using turmeric, sandalwood and flowers. A set of special priests, ‘Suaras’, take these pots from the golden well to the bathing altar. This ritual is called ‘Jalabhisheka’.

Notably, the holy water is drawn from the well once a year.

Thirty-five pots of water were used for bathing of Lord Jagannath, 33 for Balabhadra, 22 for Subhadra and 18 for Sudarshan. After the bath, again Mailum and Sarbang rituals were performed and the sibling deities were dressed in new cloths.

Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb will perform Chherapahanra on the Snana Bedi following which the deities will be decked up in ‘Hati Besha’ (incarnation of Lord Ganesh). The devotees will be allowed darshan of the Lords as they appear for ‘Sahana Mela’ from 7.30 pm.

The devotees believe that a glimpse of the deities on this auspicious day will rid them of all sins.