Puri Jagannath Temple Gears Up For Makar Sankranti Tomorrow; Lords To Don Special Attire

Puri: Special ‘Makara’ rituals will be performed at Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri on the auspicious occasion of Makara Sankranti on Monday. The occasion is also known as Uttarayan.

Ahead of the festival, the sibling deities in the 12th century shrine will be attired in ‘Nabanka Besha’ on Sunday. A number of rituals will be performed for the trinity in the temple in the run up to Makara Sankranti.

On Monday, the special rituals will begin after the Madhyanha Dhupa (mid-day offering) of the sibling deities, who will be dressed in ‘Makara-chula (headgear) Besha’.

Following these rituals, ‘Gopalaballabha’ and ‘Sakala Dhupa’ will be offered to them. The Lords don ornaments as part of the ‘Makar Chaurasi Besha’. The Jagannath Ballava Mutt provides garlands of colourful flowers, especially marigold, and basil leaves to the 12th-century shrine for this purpose.

‘Makar Chaula’, a special item prepared with new raw rice, is also offered to Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and four Digapalas. Alamchandi temple, located at Kumbharpada here, provides five ‘Makara Tadas’ to the temple the previous night for the special ‘Makara Chaula’ prasad for the deities.

The special prasad will be taken out on a procession around the temple with the beatings of gongs.
Notably, Makar Sankranti is one of the 12 jatras of the Lords, when a special betel (Nali Paan), in fact, the world’s largest paan is offered to Lord Jagannath.