Rituals Nearly Completed, Deities Ready For Rath Yatra

Puri: The temple servitors in Jagannath Temple, Puri will administer herbal medicines to the four deities on Monday. The divine siblings are believed to be suffering from fever after the luxurious bath in Snana Purnima. The servitors will treat them at a secret place in the temple premises.

The servitors will also perform special Phuluri Tela Seva, a unique healing method, to cure the deities effectively. The treatment will be done with herbal medicines during the entire fortnight of Ansara.

The temple physicians prepare the special medicine, Dasamula Modak by mixing 10 types of herbs. Then the medicine is mixed with ghee, sugar, honey and cooked over fire for a long time, before being administered to the four deities.

More than three kilogram herbs were used for the medicines. These have been prepared by the Dhanvantari Ayurveda Shatra.

After offering ‘Dasamula Modak’, the deities will be completely cured.  These were already been given by the servitors to the temple on Sunday night.

As per the suggestions given by temple Baidyas (temple physicians), the treatment will start on the late night of Ekadasi Tithi, said Daitapati Biswabasu Binayak Das Mohapatra. Basil leaf (Tulasi lagi) will also be offered to the deities from today.

Before Ekadasi, the deities were offered only white flowers in the Anasara Ghara (sick room), added Das Mohapatra.

As per tradition, Chaka Bije rituals of deities took place on Sunday. The deities, who were taking rest in the secret room, were shifted by the Daitapati servitors to a special ‘Asana’ called ‘Chaka’ made of black granite rock (Muguni Pathara) near the Anasara Ghara. They will recover from the fever there before being finally moved to the ‘Ratna Singhasan’ of the temple for ‘Nabajouban Darshan’.

The most-awaited festival in Odisha, the Ratha Yatra, will be held on July 14 in Puri.