A day ahead of the Rath Yatra on Sunday, the Nabajauban Darshan of lord Jagannath, his elder brother lord Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra was held at the Shree Jagannath Temple here on Saturday.
Over a lakh of devotees had the Sahana Mela Darshan (open to all) of the lords in their Nabajauban Vesha.As soon as the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and the Daitapati servitors opened the Singhadwar (main gate) of the shrine at 11 am after the Paramanik (ticketed) darshan was over, thousands of devotees made their way to the main temple to have a glimpse of the deities.
Earlier, the deities, who had remained in the Anabasara Griha for 15 days after they had ‘fallen ill’ since their ritual bath on Debasnan Purnima, were taken out by the servitors to the sanctum sanctorum after performing a series of rituals.On the New Moon day of Asadh (June-July), the deities put on attractive robes as they appear before the devotees for the first time after their Anabasara vacation. Since they attain a youthful and fresh looks, it is called the Nabajauban Vesha.
However, the Nabajauban darshan was delayed by over three and a half hours. The Paramanik darshan of the lords began at about 9.30 am as against the scheduled 6.30 am.
There was a long queue of the devotees at the Dakshin Dwar (south gate) of the shrine, where the temple police and security personnel were allowing the devotees to enter into the temple premises. Citing reasons for the delay in the darshan of the lords, assistant secretary of Daitapati Nijog Binayak Dasmohapatra said the servitors had to perform a series of rituals, and minor delays in each resulted in the problem.