Puri: Ritualistic treatment started Saturday to cure Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Sudarshan from fever that they had caught after taking bath from 108 pitchers of water on the occasion of ‘Snana Purnima’.
Saturday is the fifth day of Anasara (the fort-night long hibernation) of the Lords.
After ‘Srianga Phita Niti’ (a ritual wherein ‘Pata dori’, clothes on the faces and sandal wood paste applied on the faces all throughout the year are removed) was observed Friday, the deities are undergoing treatment to get cured.
Like doctors are engaged to treat humans when they fall sick, the ‘Daitapati’ servitors are engaged to treat the deities. According to Daitapati servitor Ramachandra Dasmohapatra, “Saturday a kind of special medicinal oil, called ‘Phuluri Tela’, is applied to the bodies of the deities.”
According to the age-old tradition, this special oil is provided by Bada Odia Mutt here. Fragrant flower extracts and some herbs are mixed with sesame oil and are kept buried underground for a year. That is when the ‘Phuluri Tela’ is said to develop the required medicinal properties to cure the deities.
The ‘Daitapati’ servitors will apply the oil on the bodies of the deities akin to ‘panchakarma’ treatment recommended in Ayurveda.
PNN