PURI: Elaborate arrangements have been made for Deba Snana Purnima ritual of the Trinity of Jagannath temple here. The ritual, a prelude to the annual Rath Yatra on July 14, will be held on Thursday. The Trinity - Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath and Devi Subhadra - will be bathed in 108 pitchers of aromatic water by a special set of servitors. To prepare the deities for the stress which They would have to bear during Pahandi, the Daitapatis adorned Them in ‘Senapatta,’ a body armour. The deities would be escorted from sanctum sanctorum to the Snana Mandap, an elevated platform in the temple complex facing East overlooking Badadanda, where they will be accorded a ritualistic bath.
The ‘pahandi’ is scheduled to begin by 5.30 am and completed by 7.30 am. A complex set of nitees like ‘Mangal Arati’, ‘Mailum Abakash’, would be observed and the deities would be dressed. Thereafter ‘Rosa homa’, ‘Surya Puja’ and ‘Dwarpal Puja’ would be performed by 11.20 am. The bathing ceremony is scheduled for 12 pm and expected to be completed by 2 pm. After the bathing ritual is performed by Garabadu servitors, the deities would be dressed and another set of nitees would be conducted.
‘Chherapahanra’ (ceremonial sweeping) by Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb is scheduled at 2.30 pm. After the ritualistic sweeping, the deities would be decorated in the famous ‘Hati Besha’ (elephant attire) and public ‘darshan’ would begin from 4.30 pm. After the bath, the deities catch fever and would retire to sick bed at Anansar Ghar only to reappear a day before Rath Yatra in their youthful form known as ‘Nabajouban darshan’. Meanwhile, the temple administration has released a set of strict guidelines for the servitors to be followed during the fest. As per the orders, no unauthorised person would be allowed to touch the deities while the Daitapatis were asked not to lean on the hands of the deities.
None would be allowed to go to the deities on the altar. The devotees could have ‘darshan’ from the designated place. One way entry would be enforced in the temple on Thursday. The devotees would enter through Lion’s Gate and after ‘darshan,’ exit through other gates. Sources said 45 platoons of police have been deployed for the ritual while all CCTV cameras were made operational to monitor the crowd in and around the temple. The District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police besides the Chief Administrator of the temple would oversee the arrangements.