Puri: Traditional ‘Deba Deepavali’ ceremony was observed in Sri Jagannath temple of Puri Monday.
According to Srimandir tradition, the Lords offer ‘shraddha’ to Aditi and Kashyap – their parents from Satya Yuga – on 14th day of waning moon in Margashira (eighth month of Hindu calendar) each year.
Lakhs of devotees thronged the holy city to get a glimpse of Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra on the special ‘Shraddha Besa’ occasion.
According to temple authorities, after evening ‘arati’ ritual, ‘Bhandar Mekapa’ created a tree from rice under Singhasana. Following this, another ritual was performed in which ‘Palia Mekapa’ lit a lamp in that tree. ‘Puja Panda’ performed rituals by sprinkling water on it.
Panda’, ‘Pati Mahapatra’ and ‘Mudirasta’ servitors performed ‘Bandapana’ of three lamps by climbing atop of Singhasana. ‘Palia Panda’ performed rituals by sprinkling water on the trees made up of rice inside Jaya Vijay door.
‘Chunara servitors’ placed the tree lamps at ‘Amlabedha’, ‘Natamandapa’ and ‘Bhogamandapa’ respectively and lightened the ‘Chandraudia’.
PNN
