Bhubaneswar: Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri will remain out of bounds for devotees on Thursday (March 5) for four hours.
According to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), darshan inside the temple will be temporarily suspended from 6 pm to 10 pm for “Banakalagi Niti” of the sibling deities. The special ritual will be conducted after the Second Bhog Mandap offering, it added.
During the Banakalagi Niti or Srimukha Sringara, which is traditionally performed by the Dutta Mohapatra servitors, fresh colours are applied to the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabahadra and Devi Subhadra inside the sanctum sanctorum.
Banakalagi is performed with natural colours prepared from herbs and other materials including ‘kasturi’, ‘harital’, ‘karpura’, ‘kesar’, ‘kalasankha’ and ‘dhalasankha’.
