Patitapabana bana of Jagannath Temple comes apart

Puri: Holy flag ‘Patitapabana bana’ fixed atop Nilachakra (metal wheel) of Jagannath Temple here snapped off on Friday.

Since other flags were intact, there was no change in rituals at the temple. As per temple tradition, if other flags had fallen off the Nilachakra, the rituals would have been changed accordingly.

The flag could have fallen off either because of an error in tying it to the metal wheel or strong gusty wind, temple sources said.

On October 6 last year, one of the flags atop the temple had caught fire due to lightning and was later replaced by a new one.