BARIPADA/JEYPORE: Thousands of devotees thronged the Grand Road of Baripada in Mayurbhanj district to witness ‘Snana Purnima’ ritual of the trinity. The devotees, including those from neighbouring States like West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar waited in long queues to witness the ritual at the ‘Snana Mandap’ of Haribaldev Jew temple.
Kameswar Tripathi, a priest of the temple, said rituals such as ‘mangala alati’ and ‘gutipahandi’ were carried out by 12 servitors early in the morning. The trinity, along with Madanamohana, Sudarshan and Anga Laxmi were then escorted out of the sanctum sanctorum in a ceremonial ‘pahandi’ to the bathing altar, located at the outer complex of the temple. The deities were then bathed with 108 pitchers of coconut water and as many pitchers of aromatic water at ‘Snana Mandap’.The ‘abakash’ rituals were performed at 8.30 am. After ‘sandhya alati’ in the evening, the deities were dressed in ‘Gaja Besha’.Similarly, hundreds of devotees participated in the auspicious ‘Snana Purnima’ at Sabar Srikhetra’ in Koraput on Thursday.