Puri: After a gap of two years, devotees of Lord Jagannath will have the opportunity to witness the sibling deities on ‘Snana Mandap’ (bathing pandal) in the 12th century shrine, from both outside and inside the temple.
This was decided at the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee meeting chaired by Gajapati Maharaja of Puri, Dibyasingha Deb and attended by the chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) VV Yadav and other senior district officials.
The devotees will be allowed for darshan on Snana Mandap from a close distance, but could not touch the idols of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
“All rituals and arrangements from Snana Jatra till Niladri Bije (Lord’s entry into temple after Ratha Jatra) were finalised at the crucial meeting of the Managing Committee meeting held today.” Yadav told reporters. The Snana Jatra is also called Deva Snana Purnima which falls on June 14 this year.
The Snana Jatra will be telecast live.
He said the meeting had a detailed discussion on each arrangements to ensure that the devotees do not face difficulties during the festival.
Durga Das Mohapatra, a member of the Managing Committee, said that the devotees can have darshan of the deities for three hours on Snana Bedi after the completion of Hati Besha (elephant attre) of the Lord.
At least 108 pitchers of holy water would be poured on the deities during the bating ritual.
As per the schedule of rituals for Snana Jatra, which was finalised at the meeting, Pahandi (procession) of the deities will start at 4 am and end by 6 am. The Jala Bije ritual will be held between 9.30 am and 11.30 am.
The Chera Pahara ritual is scheduled to take place at 12.15 pm while the Hati Besha ritual will be held between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm.
Devotees were denied participation in the Ratha Jatra and associated rituals for two years in 2020 and 2021 in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state government this time has made elaborate arrangements for allowing devotees to participate in the festival keeping in view the significant improvement in the pandemic situation.
PTI