Puri: The holy city of Puri is geared up for the Snan Yatra, or the bathing festival, of Lord Jagannath and sibling deities Monday, with the state government making all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the pre-Rath Yatra event.
The Snan Yatra day is also considered the birthday of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath,
The devotees from across the country have started arriving in the pilgrim city to witness the ceremonial ‘Pahandi’ (procession) of the deities, which is scheduled to be held between 5 am and 7 am.
The deities will be brought to the ‘Snan Mandap’, a sacred altar on the premises of the 12th-century shrine, where the priests will pour 108 pitchers of water on the idols in full public view.
The servitors have been requested to complete the rituals as per the schedule, and they have been working with full devotion for the Deva Snan Ustav, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator, Arabinda Padhee, told reporters.
While the Puri district administration has declared a holiday for the schools in the Puri municipal corporation area, keeping in view the massive congregation of devotees on the occasion, the police have already deployed 70 platoons (1 platoon comprises 30 personnel) for security, crowd and traffic management.
The entire city is under CCTV surveillance and stress is being given on crowd management, Central Range IGP, Satyajit Naik, who has been camping at Puri, said, adding that specialised units, along with several officers, are also deployed for the occasion.
He said advanced security measures, including Quick Action Teams (QATs), sniffer dog squads, rooftop surveillance, Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) monitoring, anti-sabotage checks and marine security arrangements have also been put in place.
Additional DG Soumendra Priyadarshi, who is in charge of security for the entire Rath Yatra festival, said, everything is in place by Sunday evening.
According to a Shree Jagannath Culture researcher Bhaskar Mishra, the Snan Yatra or Snan Purnima ritual involves bathing the deities with 108 pitchers of sacred water, marking one of the most significant ceremonies before the annual Rath Yatra.
He said after the bathing rituals, the deities will enter the ‘Anasara’ (isolation) period, remaining out of public view for 15 days before reappearing during Rath Yatra.
The devotees throng in large numbers on Snan Purnima day as they cannot see the deities for the next 15 days, Mishra said.
He said this is the first occasion in a year when the main idols come out of the Sanctum sanctorum of the temple.