loaded with ornaments of gold, jewels and precious stones of nearly a quintal, lord Jagannath, His elder brother lord Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra portrayed them as monarch of monarchs on their chariots here on Monday.
Sitting atop the three well-decorated chariots near the lions Gate in front of the Shreemandir, they offered darshan to the devotees as ‘Raja Rajeswara’ or ‘Rajadhiraj.’
As the weather was conducive after recent record downpour in Puri, people thronged the Bada Danda to enjoy the fascinating beauty of the bejewelled deities. Crowds moved to the lions Gate through barricades from Market Square and encircled the chariots and returned through other barricades.
looking at the long row, police didn’t let anybody stay even a minute at the chariots as the flow was continuous all over the Bada Danda.
For safety of valuables and security of devotees, the police left no stone unturned in deploying over a hundred platoons of armed forces in the city. DG of Police RP Sharma monitored the law and order by camping near the lions Gate.
The decoration of the lords began at 5 pm and was slated to end by 11 pm.
The day was also observed as Sayan Ekadashi when the deities will be asleep for next four months after decorations were put off from their bodies.
At 3 pm, the ornaments began reaching the lions’ Gate by the designated Sevayats from Bhandar (treasury) of the temple. Under monitoring of temple Chief Administrator Pradipta Mohapatra, Puri Collector Aravind Agarwal and SP Sarthak Sarangi, the jewelleries were thoroughly checked, counted and enlisted before departure from the treasury. Under surveillance of CCTV cameras, the counting was made so that not a single piece went missing. As per a rough estimate, the ornaments weighed nearly a quintal.
They are so genuine that their values are beyond imagination. The designs adorned on the deities were hands, foots, crowns, peacocks, forehead costume, ear-rings, half square-shaped facial decorative and necklaces. The necklaces too consist of Padma, Sevati, Agasti, Kadamba, Kante and Champa that represent traditional flowers being offered to the deities. A third eye on palate with conch, wheel, lotus and mace in hands of the lords were among the other ornaments.
After the decoration was over, the ornaments would be carried to the temple treasury under tight security for storage. In the past, the deities used to be adorned with 208 kg ornaments of 138 designs.
However, these days, at best 30 designs with less weight are used to cover the deities. Among the five gold attires being observed annually, this is the only attire being organised outside the shrine.
According to the temple history, Suna Bhesha began from Puri King Kapilendra Deb’s time in 1460 AD. When the king returned triumphant winning over southern provinces, he brought huge bounties in 16 carts and donated the same to the Jagannath Temple. He instructed that the deities on the chariots be adorned with the ornaments.