Puri: Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri town will remain closed to the devotees for six hours from the evening on Wednesday due to Banakalagi ritual of the sibling deities.
According to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), the darshan inside the temple will be closed from 6 pm to 12 midnight for the special ritual, which will be performed after the end of Bhoga Mandap ritual.
During the secret ritual of Banakalagi Niti or Shrimukha Sringara, fresh colours are applied to the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra inside the sanctum sanctorum. Dutta Mohapatra and Khadiprasad Daitapati servitors perform this ritual.
Banakalagi is performed with natural colours prepared from herbs and other materials including ‘kasturi’, ‘harital’, ‘karpura’, ‘kesar’, ‘kalasankha’ and ‘dhalasankha’. The special ritual is performed 3 to 4 times in a year.
The holy practice was discontinued after Rath Yatra last year following a dispute between the servitors of Dutta Mohapatra Nijog and SJTA over the day it should be performed. However, the matter was resolved and the ritual was resumed from August 9.
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