Devotees Can Take Part In Snana Jatra Of Puri Deities; Tight Security For Annual Event

Puri: A week before the annual Snana Purnima of Lord Jagannath and his  siblings, the Temple Management Committee met here on Tuesday to finalise the niti and timings of the rituals.

Informing about the decisions taken, Chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration Vir Vikram Yadav said timings for all rituals right from Rajendra Abhishek to Niladri Bije were finalised at the meeting.

As per the proposals made during the April 25 meeting, it has been decided to allow public darshan of the Snana Purnima of the three deities and Hati Besha on June 14.

As the Snana Jatra will be held this year with public participation after a gap of two years, devotees will be allowed atop the bathing altar for three hours after Hati Besha, but they cannot touch the deities, he added.

The sebayats will not allowed to stand in front of the deities blocking darshan, said Ramakrishna Das Mohapatra of Daitapati Nijog.

Stress will be on crowd management and facilitating smooth darshan for them, said Yadav. “All arrangements will be made as was being performed during the previous years during the pre-COVID time,” said Yadav.

LED TV screens will be set up at every junction of the town for the public convenience, he added. A decision on live telecast will also be announced soon, he added.

On June 14, the pahandi of the Lord will commence at 4 am and completed by 6 am. The ‘Jala Bije’ niti will be performed between 9.30 am and 11.30 am while the deities will be decorated in elephant attire (Hati Besha) between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm. Public can have darshan from 6 pm to 9.30 pm.

The bahuda of deities from Snana bedi will begin at 10 pm and other rituals are slated to begin 10.30 pm, said a senior servitor.

A crucial discussion about signing of MoU with Birla Foundation for the proposed Gurukul at Puri was also finalised.

Tight security arrangements besides health kiosks will  be set up considering the large crowd of devotees expected to throng the town from Snana Purnima till Niladri Bije. The temple administration is expecting a floating crowd of  1 crore during this period and around 10-15 lakh on Rath Yatra day.