Bhubaneswar: The auspicious bathing festival of Srimandir at Puri is ritually celebrated as Deva Snana Purnima. The festival coincides with ‘Purnima’ (or full moon day) of the Hindu month of ‘Jyeshtha’.
The bathing ritual is a precursor to the world renowned car festival, called Rath Yatra in local parlance at Jagannath Temple, Puri. The three presiding deities of the temple – Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra – are worshipped with devotion during the bathing ritual.
Scholars consider that Snana Purnima is the birthday of Lord Jagannath when devotees from all parts of the country arrive and grace the occasion.
‘Punctuality’ vow by Daitapatis
Puri: The Daitapati servitors have assured the administration of timely completion of all rituals for this year’s Rath Yatra.
The resolutions emerged during a meeting of Daitapatis with Puri superintendent of police (SP) Sarthak Sarangi at the collector’s conference hall here Tuesday.
The servitors assured the meeting there would not be any delay in the conduct of rituals on the day of Rath Yatra and vowed to complete all rituals an hour before the scheduled chariot pulling.
The Daitapatis told Sarangi utmost care would be taken to ensure discipline during Snana Purnima, Rath Yatra and Bahuda Yatra – three key rituals of the car festival. Devotees would be allowed to have darshan of deities on Snana Purnima, said the servitors, adding Sahanamela darshan would start at 7pm and conclude 9pm.
Devotees would come in queues to have glimpses of deities on Snana Mandap (bathing pulpit) and steps would be taken for smooth darshan of the deities.
The meeting also decided to host Nabajauban Darshan ritual in a more cohesive manner. Devotees can have darshan of the deities from the outer barricade (Bahara Katha) of the Sanctum Sanctorum of the temple. However, a selective audience would be allowed to witness the Nabajaubana Darshan this year unlike the previous year’s procedure, said the SP.
Issuance of tickets for Pahandi Bije ritual would be restricted to a maximum of 2,000 devotees.
The issue of unauthorised servitors was raised at the meeting when the question of touching the deities on chariots came up. The police said they would act in accordance with the direction of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in this regard.
Pleading for the devotees, who had been deprived of touching the deities on chariots for years, Daitapati Biswabasu Binayak Dasmohapatra said the restrictions should be relaxed this year.
He also made a personal request to the SP to allow the devotees to touch the chariot ropes and pay obeisance to the deities by touching the chariots while perambulating.
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