Darshan Of Sibling Deities At Puri Jagannath Temple Restricted For 4 Hours Today

Puri: Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri town will remain out of bounds for devotees for four hours on Wednesday for ‘Banaka Lagi’ or ‘Srimukha Sringara’ ritual of the sibling deities.

The darshan of the deities will be restricted from 6 pm to 10 pm as the Jaya Bijay Dwar will be closed from the inside. Only a small group of servitors will be allowed inside the ‘garba gruha’ or sanctum sanctorum for the rituals, sources said.

Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Goddess Subhadra along with Lord Sudarshan will adorn a new look after a special make-up ritual on Ratnabedi’ (pedestal) inside the sanctum sanctorum. The ritual is performed seven to eight times a year and this is the first of this year.

According to cultural experts, certain rare forest products are used to prepare the four types of colours- ‘haritala’ (red), ‘hengula’ (yellow), ‘sankha’ (white), and black and these are then applied to the face of the deities on this occasion.