The famous Snan Yatra of Lord Jagannath and His siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra and Chakraraj Sudarshan was celebrated in the Shreemandir here without presence of devotees on Friday.
Limited numbers of servitors conducted the Snan Yatra rituals.
It was for the first time that the festival was celebrated without participation of devotees and the Lions Gate wore a deserted look during the grand festival amidst prohibitory orders put in place under Section 144 CrPC to enforce Covid-19 restrictions.
With multiple layers of barricades, the temple’s surrounding was sealed to prevent entry of people. However, people enjoyed the Snan Yatra and paid obeisance to the lords though television. The Doordarshan (DD) aired the live telecast of the festival and private channels shared the signals through the GSAT-17.
The festival started from 1 am on Friday and continued till night. All the deities came in Dhadi Pahandi to the Snan Mandap (bathing podium).
Earlier, the deities took bath with 108 pots of water mixed with aromatic ingredients. The water was collected from Suna Kua (Golden Well) in the temple premises.
The Chherapanhara Niti (sweeping of Snan Mandap floors) was conducted by Gajapti Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb’s Mudiratha in the Maharaja’s absence.
The Gajanana Besha (Elephant-Attired) of the Trinity began at about 11 am and continued till 4 pm. Lords Jagannath and Lord Balabhadra were adorned with various art and craft pieces and flowers to look like elephants.
At 5 pm, the deities were escorted in the Bahuda Pahandi (return sojourn) to Anasar Ghar (quarantine home), a makeshift room especially built to accommodate the deities for a fortnight. As per tradition, the deities were taken ill due to bath and taken to the Anasar Ghar for treatment.
As many as 38 platoons of police were deployed to maintain law and
order. DIG (Central Range) Ashish Singh oversaw the security arrangement. SJTA Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar and Puri district Collector Balawant Singh and SP Uma Shankar Dash were present.