Puri, Jul 27: Amidst tight security, lakhs of devotees from across the country Monday witnessed ‘Suna Besha’ (golden attire) of Lord Jagannath here, a day after the three chariots reached the main temple ending the nine-day Rath Yatra festival.
Though this is the first ‘Suna Besha’ for the new idols after the Nabakalebara, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath used to put on golden attire on the chariots every year on the ‘Ekadashi’ day of ‘Asadha’.
While on their chariots the Trinity wore hands, arms and crown ornaments made of solid gold. They are also decorated with diadems, hands and feet made of gold.
While the Lord Jagannath holds a gold ‘Chakra’ in his right hand and a silver conch in his left hand, Lord Balabhadra holds a golden plough in his left hand and a golden mace in his right hand. Above 130 kinds of golden ornaments are used in the ‘Suna Besha’ ritual, a priest said.
Keeping in view the importance of the day and massive turnout at the Holy City, the police had made adequate arrangement to ensure smooth ‘darshan’ of the deities. One-way barricade was made for entry and exit of devotees who moved in a queue. However, sources said 21 people were injured while jostling with each other for the darshan.
“A special barricade was also made around the Chariots, where armed policemen were deployed with security point of view. Magistrates were also posted inside the barricade,” said SJTA chief S C Mohapatra.
The police made elaborate security arrangement for the occasion by deploying about 10,000 personnel, said DGP Sanjeev Marik. PTI