Puri: Eleven days after they embarked on their annual sojourn, Lord Jagannath and his siblings are all set to return to the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri with the Niladri Bije ritual on Monday night, marking the culmination of this year’s Rath Yatra festival
Niladri Bije involves a grand procession known as Goti Pahandi, in which the deities are escorted one by one from their chariots to the Ratna Singhasana, the bejeweled throne in the inner sanctum of the Srimandir. In this sequential movement, each deity proceeds only after the previous one has been installed on the throne.
While the Pahandi will be held in the evening, the ceremony will also witness the traditional offering of Rasagola by Lord Jagannath to Goddess Lakshmi.
A poignant highlight of Niladri Bije is the traditional drama at the temple’s Jaya Vijaya, where Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Jagannath, symbolically expresses her displeasure at having been left behind in the Srimandir during the nine-day sojourn. She allows Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra to enter but initially bars Lord Jagannath’s entry. To appease her, Lord Jagannath offers Rasagola, the beloved Odia sweet made of cottage cheese, as a gesture of reconciliation and love.
After this offering and a ritual exchange symbolizing reunion, the gates open, and Lord Jagannath joins Goddess Lakshmi before ascending the Ratna Singhasana. This touching episode of “Mana Bhanjana” (pacification of anger) underscores themes of divine love, humility, and harmony in the Jagannath tradition.
The reference to Rasagola in this context appears in the late 15th-century Odia Ramayana by Balaram Das, and since 2015, Odisha has observed Rasagola Dibasa on Niladri Bije to highlight the sweet’s cultural and historical origins tied to the temple.
