Puri: Thousands of devotees witnessed the reappearance of sibling deities – Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath on the occasion of ‘Nabajouban Darshan’ at the Puri Srimandir here Monday.
The ritual began 45 minutes ahead of the time set by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and started at 7.15 am instead of 8 am, SJTA official said.
About 7,000 devotees who purchased tickets got the opportunity to enter the temple for the Nabajouban Darshan, SJTA chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das told reporters.
The general public were later allowed to have a darshan of the deities till 11 AM, when the doors of the main temple closed for rituals ahead of the famous Rath Yatra Tuesday, he said.
‘Nabajouban Darshan’ means youthful appearance of deities, who were behind the doors for 15 days, called ‘Anasara’ (quarantine), after ‘Snana Purnima’.
According to mythology the deities fall ill due to excess bathing on ‘Snana Purnima’ and therefore remain indoors.
Prior to ‘Nabajouban Darshan’, the priests performed the special ritual called ‘Netra Utsav’ in which the eyeballs of the deities are painted afresh.
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Das said that the devotees waiting to have darshan of the deities faced no problems either inside or outside the temple due to special arrangements made for them.
After 11 AM no devotee was allowed into the main temple though they were allowed to move around in the inner compound and have darshan of other deities in the temple premises.
Meanwhile, the three chariots – Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath, Taladwaj of Lord Balabhadra and Dwarpadalan of Devi Subhadra were parked in front of the ‘Singhadwar’ (Lion’s Gate or main gate) of the temple to take the deities to Shree Gundicha Temple Tuesday. The deities stay in Gundiucha temple for a week.
The three chariots are constructed every year with wood of specified trees. They are customarily brought from the former princely state of Dasapalla by a specialist team of carpenters who have hereditary rights and privileges for it.
PTI
