Puri Jagannath Temple To Remain Shut For 16 Hours From Tonight For Snana Yatra Preparations

Puri: The gates of Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri will be shut for devotees for 16 hours from 10 pm on Friday for rituals to be conducted ahead of Debasnana Purnima on June 4.

The darshan of the sibling deities will remain restricted from 6 am to 2 pm on Saturday (June 3), the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration informed.

According to sources, Daitapati servitors entered the 12th-century shrine to perform ‘Bahuta Kanta’ rituals this morning. A log of ‘Baula’ tree, measuring eight feet long and three feet girth, had arrived here in a cart from Sakhigopal for ‘Senapata Lagi’ and ‘Bahuta Kanta’ rituals on Wednesday night. The log will be cut to prepare Senapata and Bahuta for Lord Jagannath. Senapata and Bahuta are tied to the back and arms of Lord Jagannath and then covered with silk cloths.

‘Senapata Lagi’ and ‘Bahuta Kanta’ rituals are performed during ‘pahandi’ of the deities at the time of Snana Jatra, Gundicha Jatra, Adapa Mandapa Bije Jatra, and Niladri Bije.

Snana Jatra or Debasnana Purnima is an important event in the run-up to Rath Yatra. During this ritual, the deities are escorted out of the sanctum sanctorum and taken to snana vedi to be bathed with 108 pitchers of aromatic water drawn from a well situated near the Sitala temple on the temple premises. The deities then don the ‘Hati Besha’ and give darshan to devotees on a raised platform.