Snana Purnima: 108 pitchers’ bath makes lords fall sick

Puri, (H.S): The ceremonial bathing ritual of the Trinity of Jagannath temple was held amid tight security in the presence of thousands of devotees.  More than three lakh devotees witnessed the Snana ritual which started at around 6.15 am with the Daita servitors escorting lord Jagannath, elder brother lord Balabhdra and sister Devi Subhadra along with Sudarshan and Madanmohan to SnanaMandap from ‘Ratnasimhasan’ of the sanctum sanctorum in ‘Dhadipahandi’. Pahandi was completed at 8.00 am.

The ‘Chaturdha Murti’ were placed on the Snana Mandap overlooking the Grand Road facing East and located at the outer complex of the temple. Priests bathed the deities in 108 pitchers of aromatic water drawn from ‘Sunakua’ (golden well) and blended it with aromatic herbs, sandalwood paste, kesar and karpur for bathing. After the bathing ceremony, the deities were decked in a new attire. Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb came in a procession from his palace in a decorated palanquin to the temple and performed ‘Chhera Pahanra,’ which was over by 4 pm. Prior to this, servitors completed all offerings like bhog and dressing the deities. This was followed by decking of the deities in ‘HatiBesha’ (incarnation of Lord Ganesh). The ‘Besha’ was completed by 4.30 pm. Devotees to visit Alarnath Shrine from today With the sibling deities retiring to the AnasaraGhara in Shree Jagannath temple after having an excess bath on the occasion of SnanaPurnima, the devotees are set to throng Brahmagiri from Thursday for darshan of Lord Alarnath.

After the ceremonial bath held on Wednesday, the sibling deities Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath and Devi Subhadra are now set to be down with fever and their fortnight-long quarantine period in the AnasaraGhara begins. As per legend, the darshan of Lord Alarnath in the attire of Lord Narayan during the Anasara period is equal to the darshan of the Lord Jagannath. Alarnath Temple is located at Brahmagiri, around 25 km from Puri town.

This apart, the idols of Lord Dolagobinda, Lord Nrusingha, Lord Madanmohan, Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Goddess Bhudevi, Goddess Sridevi and the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu are also being worshipped at the Alarnathpeeth. Devotees visiting Alarnath temple also get ‘Mahaprasad’ at the ‘Ananda Bazaar’ here like the one they get in Srimandir in Puri. The local administration has made elaborate arrangements for smooth darshan at Alarnath temple, deploying a heavy security force. A total of seven platoons of police and a section force are being deployed. Barricades have been erected at the temple for security purpose. The general darshan of Alarnath will commence from 6 am, and devotees are expected to throng the temple till June 26. Along with Lord Alarnath, the devotees will also have the darshan of Lord AnantaBasudev in place of Lord Balabhadra and Devi Bhubaneswari in place of Devi Subhadra.

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