PURI: More than 10 lakh devotees thronged the pilgrim town to witness the most decorative attire of the Lords, “Suna Besha”, on the chariots on Tuesday.
A special set of servitors brought huge gold ornaments and jewellery from the temple treasury to the chariots amid tight security. Three separate set of dressers took about two hours to dress Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra.
Gold ornaments of various types and style weighing about 100 kg were used to decorate the deities. The ornaments covered the idols and insignias like mace, lotus, wheel and conch. Besides, huge gold tiaras and special necklaces and garlands presented a spectacular look of the deities.
The deities were also wearing earrings besides chest guards. The darshan of this special attire continued till late night when the ornaments returned to the temple treasury by the servitors.
The administration placed three-layer security of armed personnel around the three chariots during the “Suna Besha”. While the devotees were allowed to enter the town by NH-203, they were allowed to return via Puri-Konark-Pipili route.
The 1978 inventory of the Lords’ wealth in form of the ornaments stated that there were 367 items of gold ornaments weighing four quintals and 251 items of silver ornaments weighing 14 quintals. Apart from these, there were ornaments studded with diamond, emerald, ruby and other precious stones of rare quality and size.
The deities would spend one more night on the chariots for Adhar Pana, a special drink. On Thursday, Lord Jagannath would present ‘Rasgollas’ to appease Mahalaxmi, who was left out of the pleasure ride, to open the door. Late in the night, the Lords would be escorted into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
District Magistrate Dhiren Pattnaik, SP Anup Kumar Sahu, IGP RP Koche, IGP Soumendra Priyadarshi and IGP Sanjib Panda besides the temple’s Chief Administrator Arabind Padhi were present.