Bhubaneswar: Bada Maha Snana, a significant purification ritual, was performed at Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Wednesday afternoon after a devotee vomited near Bhitara Katha.
According to sources, the incident occurred during general darshan, which was ongoing after the morning’s Abakasha Puja. Temple authorities immediately closed the doors to the inner sanctum, restricting public viewing, and conducted the special cleansing ritual, which lasted over an hour.
Bada Maha Snana is traditionally invoked in cases of impurity within sacred precincts, such as vomiting, blood spills, or other defilements near key areas like Bhitara Katha.
Following the purification, the scheduled Bhoga Mandap Bhog — a daily midday offering where Lord Jagannath and his siblings, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, are presented with rice, dal, curries, and various traditional pitha (cakes) in the grand hall — is expected to proceed. These blessed offerings transform into Mahaprasad, the highly sacred sanctified food revered by devotees.
However, the delay caused by the ‘Bada Maha Snana’ is likely to impact Banakalagi Niti (also known as Srimukha Shringara) on the occasion Magha Krushna Chaturthi, a secretive ceremony involving the application of fresh natural pigments to the deities’ faces, which was to be conducted between 5 pm to 10 pm after the Second Bhog Mandap offering. During these five hours, public darshan inside the temple will remain suspended, the sources added.
