Puri: The ‘Snana Yatra’ of Lord Jagannath and His siblings were performed at Puri Srimandir on occasion of Devasnana Purnima Thursday. The rituals were performed sans devotees owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
According to a source, the Snana Yatra rituals began at 1.00am with ‘Mangalarpan’. After this, the three deities — Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra — were carried from the ‘Ratna Singhasan’ to ‘Snana Bedi’ in ‘Dhadi Pahandi’ as per schedule earlier fixed by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
Also read: BSE Odisha Class X results to be published Friday
Lord Balabhadra first arrived at the Snana Bedi followed by Goddess Subhadra and then Lord Jagannath including Lord Sudarshan. The deities were bathed with 108 pitchers of water drawn from a well called the ‘Suna Kua’ in the temple premises.
‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual was performed at 10.30am. Later, the much-awaited ‘Hati Besha’ of the three deities started from 11.00am onwards. Bahuda Pahandi of the Lords is to be carried out between 5.00pm and 8.00pm in the evening, an SJTA official informed.
Notably, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb did not perform the Snana Yatra rituals. In his absence, the royal priest named Narayan Mudirasta performed Chhera Pahanra (floor-sweeping ritual).
The ‘Snana Yatra’ is held on the full-moon day in ‘Jyestha’ month of the Hindu calendar, considered to be the birthday of Lord Jagannath, ahead of the Rath Yatra.
The district administration disallowed devotees from witnessing the ‘Devasnana’ festival for the second consecutive year in the wake of the pandemic, and beefed up security around the 12th-century shrine, imposing prohibitory orders since Wednesday night in order to ensure there is no congregation of people, the officials said.
Puri District Magistrate-cum-Collector Samarth Verma said the state government had made elaborate arrangements for live telecast of the festival.
Verma said those who took part in the rituals had undergone RT-PCR tests and tested negative for Covid-19, while the servitors who were present during the event were fully vaccinated.
After the ‘Snana Yatra’, the sibling deities are kept away from public view for 15 days, a period in which they are believed to develop fever due to excessive bathing. The SJTA chief administrator Krishan Kumar said the temple will remain out of bounds for devotees till July 25.
PNN & Agencies
