Bhubaneswar: Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri will remain out of bounds for devotees on Wednesday for five hours.
According to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), darshan inside the temple will be temporarily suspended from 5 pm to 10 pm for “Banakalagi Niti of the sibling deities on the occasion Magha Krushna Chaturthi”. The special ritual will be conducted after the Second Bhog Mandap offering, it added.
During the Banakalagi Niti or Shrimukha Sringara, which is traditionally performed by the Dutta Mohapatra servitors, fresh colours are applied to the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabahadra and Devi Subhadra inside the sanctum sanctorum.
Banakalagi is performed with natural colours prepared from herbs and other materials including ‘kasturi’, ‘harital’, ‘karpura’, ‘kesar’, ‘kalasankha’ and ‘dhalasankha’.
