PURI: The Trinity appeared in a new look wearing a special make-up as part of the ‘Banak Laagi’ ritual on Thursday. Dutta Mahapatra, a special set of servitors, worked for hours together to give the new look to the deities. Paste of black and white conch were used to colour the Trinity’s eyes and eyeballs.
Servitor Sanjay Dutta Mahapatra said face make-up of the deities is usually done at least once a week. But the ‘Banak Laagi’ of the Trinity for ‘Nabajouban Darshan’ after the Anasar period is most important. For this ritual, a special mixture of Khadi (white chalk stone and rice powder), Kasturi (musk), Hingula (red sulphide of mercury), Harital (yellow orpiment) and Sankha (conch shell) besides other natural colours were used to decorate the faces of the deities.
After the ritual, the surplus Khadi and mixture were taken by the Dutta Mahapatra servitors in a procession to the palace of Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb and deposited there. Temple administrator AK Jena said the deities will appear in rejuvenated youthful form called Nabajouban Darshan on Friday. This apart, the three chariots would be decorated with their respective colours on the day.
Meanwhile, swab samples of servitors, who will participate in Rath Yatra, are being collected at special RT-PCR test centres. Around 3,000 servitors and 1,000 temple staff including police personnel would be tested. As per protocol, only those testing Covid negative would be allowed to participate in the festival.
Sources said barricading of roads connected to Bada Danda (Grand Road) is almost complete. Over 100 police personnel with vehicles are conducting flag march on the Grand Road for the annual Rath Yatra.
Puri SP K Vishal Singh said on the festival day, a three-layer security will be thrown around Gundicha temple. Section 144 will be clamped on Bada Danda, the festival venue, to prevent gathering of devotees.