PURI: On Saturday, late in the evening, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were escorted into the sanctum sanctorum of the Srimandir from their chariots in ‘pahandi’ by Daita servitors marking Niladri Bije (homecoming of Trinity).
The Trinity, after staying for nine days in Gundicha temple, began Bahuda (return journey) on Wednesday and reached the Srimandir gate by late evening. They stayed put on their respective chariots parked in front of Simhadwar.
The Trinity stayed for three days on the chariots for observance of important rituals like Suna Besha followed by Adharpana the next day. They were taken into the Srimandir after the offering of the Rasagola blog.
On the day, after sandhya dhupa, preparation for ‘pahandi’ began with the fixing of ladders (chara-mara) onto the chariots. The pahandi procession was conducted an hour in advance by 6.10 pm. They were made to sit on their respective seats on the Ratnasinghasan in the garbhagruha. A two-layer security cordon was put around the deities during pahandi to prevent any unauthorised person from touching the deities.
Hundreds of devotees offered rasagolas as bhog to deities. This is the only occasion when the sweet is offered to the Trinity. Devotees would get mahaprasad known as ‘Nilachal abhada’ on Sunday. Temple chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das, district magistrate Samarth Verma and SP K Vishal Singh were present during Niladri Bije.