Trinity back home as Odisha's Rath Yatra ends
PURI: Niladribije of the holy Trinity in Puri was completed well before time on Monday evening owing to lunar eclipse on Tuesday.
As the effect of eclipse will begin from Monday midnight, the temple astrologer had advised to start all rituals and ‘pahandi’ of the three deities early.
Accordingly, after rituals like ‘mangala arati’, ‘mailam’, ‘abakash’, ‘Gopal bhog’ was offered to the Trinity on their chariots and three huge floral ‘tahias’ were fixed on the heads of the deities before the ceremonial ‘goti pahandi’.
After ‘sandhya dhupa’, chara mara (ladders) were fixed to the chariots and on to the Ratna Simhasana inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Amid playing of musical instruments and performances of Gotipua and Odissi, Ramakrushna, Madana Mohan and Sudarshan were escorted inside the temple while ‘pahandi’ of Lord Balabhadra began at 5 pm followed by Devi Subhadra at 5.45 pm.
Before Lord Jagannath was escorted inside the sanctum sanctorum, a traditional play was enacted between the servitors of the deity and his consort Goddess Mahalaxmi.
By the order of Goddess Mahalaxmi, the temple gate was closed to prevent entry of Lord Jagannath to teach him a lesson for not taking her along in his nine-day pleasure trip to Sri Gundicha temple.
The Goddess maintains a close vigil from Chahani mandap, a projected platform situated at the right side of the temple main gate, on the activities inside the Nandighosh chariot.
While Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were allowed to enter the temple, door was slammed on the face of Lord Jagannath. According to legend, Lord Jagannath offers rasagolla to pacify Goddess Laxmi and seeks forgiveness.
After a long persuasion, she allows him inside the temple, marking an end to the 12-day-long Rath Yatra festival.
Hundreds of devotees offered rasagollas as ‘bhog’ to deities on chariots before ‘pahandi’.
This is the only occasion when rasagollas are offered to Lord Jagannath and his siblings.Regular rituals like ‘mahasnana’, ‘badasinghara’ and ‘pahuda’ along with special rituals for the eclipse were observed later in the night. Devotees would get Mahaprasad known as Nilachal Abhada on Tuesday.
Temple chief administrator PK Mahapatra, District Magistrate Balwant Singh and SP Umashankar Dash were present.
Two layers of security arrangement were put in place around the deities during ‘pahandi’ by the temple administration to ensure that the ‘tahias’ remain intact on the heads of deities till ‘pahandi’ was completed.