Puri: Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri will remain closed for devotees from 10.30pm Saturday till around 1 pm of Sunday in view of preparations for a special ritual, officials said.
The annual ‘Snan Yatra’ (bathing ceremony), also religiously observed as the birthday of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath, will take place June 29, they said.
In a notification, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said: “On Monday, 29.06.2026, Jyestha Shukla Purnima, the Snanajatra of Mahaprabhu will be observed. In view of the special rituals and advance preparations at the Shree Mandira, public darshan will remain suspended from 10:30 pm Saturday until approximately 1 pm Sunday.”
As part of the ‘Snan Yatra’, the idols of the sibling deities are taken out of the sanctum sanctorum for a ceremonial bath within the temple premises. As lakhs of people congregate to witness the festival, the temple administration has made several arrangements, with the police looking after security and crowd management, SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Padhee told reporters.
Meanwhile, as part of tradition, the ‘Daitapati’ servitors, on the auspicious occasion of ‘Jyestha Shukla Trayodashi’, entered the shrine, marking the beginning of their month-long rituals from ‘Snan Purnima’ till ‘Niladri Bije’ (when the deities return after the Rath Yatra).
