Puri: With only two days left for Rakhi Purnima, Patara Bisoi servitors of Shri Jagannath Temple in Puri are an excited lot as they are preparing divine ‘rakhis’ for the Lords.
The ‘rakhis’ they are preparing will be tied to Lord Jagannath and Lord Balabhadra by Devi Subhadra.
Rakhi Purnima is also the birthday of Lord Balabhadra. The day is also known as ‘Gamha Purnima’ across the state. This is why the day is of much importance to the temple.
According to established practices, the Patara Bisoi servitors prepare these divine rakhis. For this, the temple administration provides ‘Basunga Pata’ cloth to these specific servitors. They dye the cloth in four colours – red, blue, violet and yellow. Then they cut the coloured clothes and sew them in concentric circles with one atop the other with the smallest disc at the top. They also prepare four rakhis for the lords and 10 smaller ones for side gods.
While Lord Jagannath’s rakhi is red and yellow in colour, the hues of Lord Balabhadra’s rakhi are blue and purple. The Lords are offered two rakhis and two ‘Guamala’ (areca nut garlands) each. Each ‘Guamala’ consists of 54 areca nuts.
Informing about the tradition, Patara Bisoi Jagannath Patra said the process of preparing rakhis generally starts 10 to 12 days before Rakhi Purnima. “Those who are engaged have to follow certain rules to maintain the piousness. The preparation comes to an end just on the penultimate day of the festival,” he added.
PNN