Over four lakh devotees witnessed the famous Sunavesha of lord Jagannath and his siblings inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Shreemandir on Monday here on the closing day of the month-long Kartik Brata.
Hundreds of Kartik Brata observers, besides the local residents, on Monday early morning sailed tiny boats in water bodies, called Boita Bandan to mark the maritime glory of past of the State.
They took holy dip in the Mahodadhi tirth (a five-km stretch of the sea along the Puri coast) and offered prayers to the rising Sun and thenrushed to the Shree Jagannath temple to have darshan of the deities. They took Mahaprasad and concluded their observance of Kartik Brata.
The district administration had made elaborate arrangements for the devotees. Hundreds of life guards were deployed to prevent drowning while adequate police personnel were placed in various parts of the city
particularly in and around the Jaganntah temple for smooth conduct of the ritual. Temple Chief Administrator SC Mahapatra, district Collector Arabind Agarwal and SP Sarthak Sarangi were present.
The servitors of the temple, after observance of the daily chores of the deities, adorned them with gold ornaments for the Suna Vesha. The temple administration had stopped the repairing work of the shrine for the month to facilitate the darshan of the deities. The temple cooks had a tough time to prepare bhog for lakhs of devotees. About 2,000 poor women devotees were patronized by the administration for the observance of the Brata.
Hundreds of devotees passed night in the Badadanda listening to Bhajans presented by noted singers of the State till rising of the sun. Traffic police had a tough time in regulating the vehicles. No untoward incidents were reported.
The Boita Bandan ceremony was also observed at Chanddra Bhaga (Konark), Astaranga and Chilika.