After 15 days of the deities of the Shree Jagannath Temple remaining out of bounds for devotees, lakhs of devotees witnessed the Nabajauban Besha of Shree Jagannath and his siblings on Monday.
The deities had fallen “sick” after baths with 108 pitchers of water and were escorted to the Anasar Ghar, where they remained till they “recovered” with the “treatment” of the temple Vaidya. During this period, public darshan at the temple was closed.
After their “recovery from sickness”, the deities were given a fresh dress-up and traditional cosmetic care of the face and they appeared in Nabajauban Besha (new youthful attire) for public darshan.
At 4 in morning on Monday, the servitors dismantled the temporary “sick room” and performed a complex set of rituals. Public darshan was allowed by 7.15 am. The Daita servitors will work through the night on Tuesday to dress the deities up with special outing attire called Chhenapatta laagi so that the deities can bear the stress of the Pahandi (procession) during the Rath Yatra on Wednesday.