Bhubaneswar: As the skies above prepare for a stunning total lunar eclipse on Tuesday, temples across Odisha, including the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, have adjusted their rituals to honour ancient traditions amid this cosmic event.
The eclipse, often called a “Blood Moon” for the reddish hue the Moon takes during totality, begins at 3:20 pm and concludes at 6:47 pm. While the full event lasts about 3 hours and 27 minutes, visibility in India starts around moonrise at 6:26 pm, with the peak occurring between 6:33 pm and 6:40 pm.
The eclipse’s timing has a profound cultural impact in Odisha, especially as it overlaps with Dola Purnima, a festival celebrating Lord Krishna with colourful processions and swings (dolas). Temples statewide have closed during the “Sutak Kaal”, an inauspicious period beginning hours before the eclipse, to avoid negative energies believed to prevail.
At Jagannath Temple, daily rituals and the preparation of Mahaprasad (sacred food offerings) have been suspended from sunrise until the eclipse’s end. The temple doors would reopen only after the “Sarvamoksha” ritual, a cleansing ceremony post-eclipse. “The eclipse, being Ketu-grasta (influenced by the shadow planet Ketu), requires us to adapt our sacred niti (rituals),” explained a temple servitor in Puri.
According to temple sources, the temple doors were opened at 1 am, and the scheduled rituals were completed in the early hours. However, Devaniti (daily ritual practices) remained suspended from 6:08 am onwards in compliance with established customs observed during an eclipse period. Key ceremonies like the deities’ Rajadhiraj Besha (Suna Besha) have been shifted to the evening, between 8 pm and 9:30 pm.
Meqanwhile, Chalanti Pratima (processional idols) proceeded to the Dolabedi for festival observances.
As part of the tradition, after receiving the Agyan Mala of Lord Jagannath, the Chalanti Pratima – Dola Gobinda – along with Bhudevi and Sridevi will proceed to the Dolabedi in the Mani Bimana. During the ritual, the deities customarily play with abir and phagu (colours) in the presence of devotees.
In Sambalpur, the Maa Samaleswari Temple closed its gates early Tuesday morning, with priests citing the Sutak Kaal as the reason for halting darshan. Similarly, the Akhandalamani Temple in Bhadrak will remain shut for 13 hours till 6:47 pm, reopening only after purification rituals.
