Puri: Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri town will remain out of bounds for public for four hours on Wednesday for ‘Banaka Lagi’ or ‘Srimukha Sringara’ ritual of the sibling deities.
According to the temple authorities, this special ritual is performed on Pratipada Tithi in the month of Chaitra. Dutta Mohapatra servitors will performed this niti between 5 pm and 9 pm during which public darshan will remain suspended.
During the Banakalagi ritual, servitors will do ‘Srimukha Sringara’ of deities. As part of this secret ritual, the servitors will smear fresh coat of colours on the idols of the deities to restore their original look.
Following age-old tradition, servitors prepares ‘Banaka’ by using various types of natural colours like hingula, haritala, kasturi, keshar and the glue of kaintha.
The ritual is performed seven to eight times a year.
