PURI: The Suna Vesha ritual of the Trinity was marred by a delay of five hours in the Sri Jagannath temple on Thursday. Scheduled to be observed after offering of the Sakaladhupa (bhog) at 9:40 am, it was reportedly pushed behind schedule due to a dispute between Simhari and Puspalak servitors over dressing the deities.
Chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Dr Krishan Kumar held a meeting of officials over the delay. He directed administrator, rituals JK Sahu and other officers to file a report in this regard within a week.
A large number of devotees had turned up at Srimandir to witness the golden attire of the deities. However, many had to return without the darshan of the Trinity's Suna Vesha due to the delay. After the temple doors opened early in the morning, servitors performed Mangal Arati, Mailum, Tadaplagi and Abakash rituals followed by Rosohoma, Surya Puja before offering Gopal Bhog to the deities.
Since it was the occasion of Pausha Purnima, a special "abhisek" of the deities was performed on the Ratnasimhasan by Simhari servitors as per the Srimandir almanac. The servitors used 108 pitchers of aromatic water to bathe the trinity.
Subsequently, a huge array of gold ornaments were drawn from the temple treasury and handed over to the Simhari servitors. As many as three sets of dressers adorned the Trinity with all the ornaments that included feet, hands, palms and their respective insignias besides giant necklaces and huge head gears called tiaras. These apart, ear lobes were fixed with huge "Kundalas".
Devotees were in a trance after witnessing the Trinity in the golden attire, also known as Rajrajeswar Vesha, after a gap of over 10 months.
As per tradition, the deities give darshan to devotees in Suna Vesha on five auspicious occasions in a Hindu calender year. The Trinity is adorned with the golden attire on Dolapurnima, Dussehra, Kumarpurnima, Pusyapurnima and while seated on the chariots during the annual Rath Yatra.
Devotees continued to have darshan of Suna Vesha till late in the evening. The SJTA had extended the darshan time by two hours to facilitate more devotees to witness the deities in golden attire. On the day, the ritual of 'Pusyabhisek' was also observed in the palace of Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb. Pundits performed the ‘abhisek’ of the king and blessed him for a happy, prosperous and long life.