Puri: The ceremonial Pahandi of Lord Jagannath, his elder Balabhadra, and Devi Subhadra in the Sri Jagannath temple will commence at about 1am Saturday.
The presiding deities will be taken from the sanctum sanctorum to the Snana Vedi (Bathing altar) for the grand holy bath Saturday, known as Snana Purnima.
As per Sri Jagannath temple traditions, the Daita servitors took charge from the regular priests Wednesday late in the night, after which Mangalarpan would begin, which would be completed by 4 am.
The Daita servitors will remain in charge of the Rath Yatra festival till Niladri bije, the end of the fete.
Earlier Wednesday night, Suansia, a special group of servitors, laid the Charamara (ladders) to the Ratna simhasana to facilitate the Pahandi of the deities.
After their work, the Daita entered the temple and fashioned “Senapatta” and “Bahutakanta” armours for the bodies of the deities to bear the stress of Pahandi.
The Darshan of Deities was closed until 3 pm Friday. After completing the Chhenapatta lagi ritual, the ceremonial Pahandi of the deities will begin after midnight.
The Pahandi procession will be led by temple musicians playing cymbals, trumpets, drums, Ghantaa, and mrudang.
As per the schedule, Pahandi is expected to be completed by 4 AM.
The deities were placed on the bathing altar, known as Snan Vedi, a huge raised platform located on the east side of the outer complex of the temple overlooking Badadanda.
The day’s ritual will begin Saturday with Mangala arati, Mailum, Tadaplagi, Abakas, Surya Puja, Rosahoma, and the offering of Gopal bhog.
Thereafter, priests at 7.30 am would accord 108 pitchers of aromatic water baths to the Trinity, which would be completed by 9.30 AM.
The deities would then be decked with new clothes. The Gajapati King or his representative servitor would perform Chherapahanra, which would be completed by 10.30 AM.
Three sets of servitors would dress the deities in elephant attire, popularly called “Hati Vesha.” It would take one hour, from 11am to 12 pm to complete the vesha.
The Temple Administration has decorated the altar with colourful flowers.
The Vesha would be unmade by late in the night and deities would be taken into Anasara ghara (room for sick) in the temple, where they would recline to a sick bed for a fortnight, supposedly suffering from fever. The temple Vaidya would treat them with herbal drugs, and they would be put on a dry food and fruit diet.
The Trinity would reappear a day prior to the Rath Yatra, called Nabajouban Darshan.
Temple Chief Administrator Vir Vikram Yadav, District Magistrate Sidharth Shankar Swain, and Superintendent of Police Pinak Mishra are looking after festival arrangements.
Sources said about 68 platoons of police personnel have been deployed to regulate the pilgrim traffic on Badadanda and in the town.
UNI