Lord Jagannath, His elder brother Lord Balabhadra and younger sister Devi Subhadra, besides Lord Sudarshan exhibited them in rare attires, called Sunabesha, in Puri on Saturday.
There was a heavy rush of devotees to witness the Lords on chariots, bedazzled with quintals of gold and diamond ornaments, colourful jewels and gem stones.
To watch the gold attires of deities at the last leg of the RathYatra, over a million people thronged the holy city from far and wide and stood in long queues up to the Lions Gate for their smooth darshan.
Scores of trains, besides hundreds of buses, cars and bikes ran to Puri taking pilgrims to join the mega road show. The deities exposed them to public as Rajadhiraj or Raja Rajeswar (King of Kings).
Though actual weight of gold and diamonds with jewels adorned on deities is unknown due to a censorship by the temple, however, it is believed about 150 kg of ornaments was used on deities on board the chariots near the Shreemandir.
Among the designs, there were hands, foots, crowns, peacocks, forehead costumes, ear-rings, half square-shaped decorative items and necklaces, etc.
There were Padma, Sevati, Agasti, Kadamba, Kante and Champa that represent flowers being used in the ornaments. In the past, deities used to wear 208 kg ornaments of 138 designs. However, nearly 30 designs with less weight are used presently in the Sunabesha.
At about 3pm, decorations of siblings on board chariots began where dozens of designated servitors carried ornaments from the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove) to the chariots. Other group of servitors fixed ornaments on bodies of the deities.
About 5pm, the public was allowed to view the attires and the darshan was scheduled to continue till 11 pm.
Of the five gold attires being observed annually, this is the only event displayed outside the shrine. According to history, Sunabesha began from a period of King Kapilendra Dev in 1460 AD. He returnedtriumphant winning over southern provinces carrying a huge bounty in 16 carts to Puri. He donated them to the Jagannath Temple and instructed for a display of the jewelleries adorning the deities.