Puri: Braving heavy rain, thousands of devotees thronged Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri to witness the ‘Snana Jatra’, the ceremonial bathing festival of the sibling deities on Saturday.
The annual ritual, celebrated on the occasion of Purnima or full moon day of the Hindu month of Jyeshtha, signals the beginning of the world-famous Rath Yatra of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
Amidst chanting of slokas, the priests of the 12th century shrine poured 108 pots of holy water fetched from a particular well located on the temple premises on the idols of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
Earlier in the morning, the deities along with the image of Lord Sudarshana were taken out of the sanctum sanctorum to the ‘Snan Mandap’, bathing altar, in a grand procession known as ‘pahandi’.
Then different rituals including Dwarapala Puja, Surya Puja, Rosahoma, Abakasa, Adharapochha and Mailam were performed. The servitors took 108 pitchers of holy water from Suna Kua (golden well) in the temple to the Snana Mandap. Different herbs and aromatic essence were added to the water before pouring it on the deities during the royal bath.
As per tradition, 35 pots of water are used for the bathing of Lord Jagannath, 33 pots of water for Lord Balabhadra, 22 for Devi Subhadra and 18 pots of water for Lord Sudarshan.
The ritual, also known as ‘Jalabhishek’, is performed amid chanting of Vedic mantras, kirtan, beating of gongs and blowing of conch shells.
After the bathing rituals, the deities are adorned in ‘Gaja Besha’ or elephant attire.
As per the rituals, Gajapati king Divyasingha Deb had a darshan of the Lord on the ‘Snan Mandap’ and offered special puja as he is considered as the first sevak (priest) of Lord Jagannath.
It is a belief among devotees that if they have darshan of the trinity on Snan Mandap on the day, they will be cleansed of all sins.
The Skanda Purana mentions that King Indradyumna arranged this ceremony for the first time when the idols of the deities were first installed in the temple. After the bathing rituals, the deities fell ill and were kept in a sick chamber to recuperate in privacy under the care of the Raj Vaidya (royal doctor). It is said that with the Ayurvedic medication (pnachan) administered by the Raj Vaidya the Lord recovered in a fortnight and resume giving an audience to devotees.
In order to witness the Snana Jatra of the deities, thousands of devotees from across Odisha and outside had gathered on the Bada Danda (Grand Road) since early morning. Besides being an auspicious day, the sibling deities will not give darshan to the devotees from tomorrow as they will fall sick and remain confined to ‘Anasara Ghara’ (sick chamber in the temple for a fortnight.
