The devotees of lord Jagannath have now got more to explore in the vicinity of Jagannathpur temple. Three statues of Vishnu ‘avatars’ were unveiled in south, north and east directions of the temple here on Wednesday. One can observe the small temples of these lords while moving around the main temple comprising lord Jagannath, lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra.
Explaining the relevance of these three deities with lord Jagannath, head priest Braj Bhushan Nath Mishra on Thursday said, “lord Jagannath was very close to these three Vishnu Avatars namely Narasimha, Vaman and Varaha. It took us two days to establish the respective statues within the temple premises with a separate arena for each of them.”
As of now, the temple fraternity is in the last stage of completing the renovation works of the temple as well as the chariot (Rath) since the fair followed with the beginning of Rath Yatra (chariot tour) is scheduled fromJune 29 to July 8.
“We closed the doors of the main temple on June 13 after performing bathing rituals of lord Jagannath, lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra known as Snana Jatra. The doors will be re-opened on June 28 sharp at 5pm. On June 29, the deities will be taken to their mausibaari through Rath Yatra. Unlike previous years, this year’s Rath Yatra will witness less rainfall,” the head priest added.
The Rath Yatra fair will conclude on the day when these deities are taken back to the temple from mausibaari. Swing and hotel owners from Bihar and outskirts of Jharkhand were seen gearing up for the fair in the ground connecting to the temple entrance.
“This time we came early so as to grab a better location for attracting customers towards our stall as it becomes difficult to earn a good profit if our hotel is in a corner,” Suraj, a kid accompanying his uncles from Sisai said.
labourers Ajit Kumar Singh from Nalanda who is here alongwith nine persons of his cadre searching a fair to set up various kinds of swings said, “We are participating in Jagannathpur Mela after a gap of four years. Nowadays, it is difficult to book land in such a grand fair. Fortunately, we could get 35 feet space for setting big swings and 50 feet space for brake dance swings.”
The workers deployed in decorating the temple said fancy lights will be well lit by June 28 around the temple. Mishra, on the other hand, informed that the wall paintings of the temple will be completed by June 27.
“The Vishesh Bhandara wherein khichdi and kheer are served to the three lords once a year is to be arranged on July 7,” he added.