: A day after the Bahuda Yatra, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra exhibited them to devotees loaded with gold, diamond and other precious ornaments during the Suna Besha festival on Sunday evening.
The entire Bada Danda witnessed a large congregation of devotees moving slowly to the temple’s Lions Gate to have glimpses of the golden attire atop the chariots.
The Besha of the Lords was scheduled till 11 pm after which the ornaments would be removed from the deities and returned to the temple.
Although the exact quantity of the precious ornaments the deities wore was kept confidential, however, it is said that nearly 150 kg of gold and diamond ornaments the lords had put on their bodies during the Besha.
In the past, the deities used to wear 208 kg of 138 designs of ornaments. However, due to security reasons, few designs with less weight are used in the attire at present.
According to history, Suna Besha had begun during the period of monarch Kapilendra Dev in 1460 AD. He had brought with him a huge
bounty of invaluable jewelleries on 16 carts to Puri while returning triumphant over the southern provinces. He later had donated them to the Jagannath Temple for the decorations of the deities during the Rath Yatra.