Lakhs Witness ‘Laxmi Nrusingha’ Besha At Puri Jagannath Temple; Tight Security For Kartika Purnima Tomorrow

Puri: Lakhs of devotees from across Odisha and outside thronged the pilgrim town of Puri to witness the famous Laxmi Nrusingha attire of the Lord in Jagannath Temple on Sunday.

The 12th century shrine witnessed heavy footfall as Lord Jagannath has been adorned with Laxmi Nrusingha besha on the occasion of ‘Panchuka Chaturdashi Tithi’ or ‘Baikuntha Chaturdashi.’

The sibling deities gave darshan to the devotees after ‘abakash niti’ by wearing ‘Patabastra’, special ornaments and garlands made with attractive flowers, sources said.

According to legend, Lord Jagannath gave darshan to King Indradyumna in Nrusingha besha when he beheld the ‘Darudevata’ for the first time. This rare attire is held every year In that memory on Kartika Panchuka’s Chaturdashi Tithi.

In this attire, the Holy Trinity is adorned with ‘Shribhuja’, ‘Shripayara’ and other attractive gold ornaments.

The Lord was adorned with ‘Tribikrama Besha’ on the occasion of ‘Panchuka Trayodashi Tithi’ on Saturday. A large number of devotees had gathered to have the darshan of the deities in special attire.

Similarly, the sibling deities – Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath – will be attired in the most famous ‘Rajarajeshwar Besha’ or golden attire on the occasion of ‘Kartika Purnima’, last day of Panchuka, on Monday.

As a huge rush of devotees is expected in the seaside town to witness the ‘Rajarajeshwar Besha’ of the deities on Kartika Purnima on Monday, elaborate security arrangements and traffic management have been made for the smooth darshan of the deities in the special attire.

At least 50 platoons of police force are being deployed for crowd control and regulation on the occasion, while separate traffic arrangements have been made to regulate movement of vehicles, according to Puri Superintendent of Police Kanwar Vishal Singh.

Vehicles will not be allowed from Market Chhak towards the temple. Special arrangements for traffic management will be made on roads leading to Puri town from Bhubaneswar, Konark and Brahmagiri.
Apart from police personnel, more lifeguards will be deployed on the beach to prevent any untoward incident, police said.