lord Jagannath, His elder brother Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra, besides lord Sudarshan, who are now staying in the Anasar Ghar (sick room in Shree Mandir) for supposedly suffering from fever, were on Sunday administered “Dasmula Modak,” a health rejuvenating tonic, by temple Vaidya. This would make the deities recover from illness and keep them fit for the Rath Yatra journey scheduled for July 18. The Modak is prepared from ten rare herbs by Vaidya in his private facility.
Apart from this, on Sunday Pati Mahapatra servitor would work on the faces of the deities by applying “Khali,” a specially blended herbal cream, to brighten them. This is popularly called Khali laagi nitee. The “Chaka Bije” nitee of the deities in the Anasar Ghar was conducted on Sunday by the Daita servitors. It is an exercise to straighten the deities lying on the sick bed and to place them on their seats.Meanwhile, for smooth and timely conduct of the Rath Yatra, the temple chief administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra has posted three senior joint secretary rank officers to remain full-time alert in the temple premises to speed up the daily rites.