Bhubaneswar, Jun 11: Lakhs of devotees thronged to the sacred city of Puri in Odisha to witness the divine spectacle of 'Snana Purnima' or the 'Deva Snana Purnima', the ritual bathing of holy triad -- Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra -- at the famous Jagannath temple on Wednesday.

This marks the beginning of the famous Rath Yatra, which is scheduled to begin from June 27 this year.

On Wednesday, the servitors brought the deities from their sanctum sanctorum to the bathing platform 'Snana Vedi' in a grand procession called 'Pahandi Bije' ritual with the blowing of traditional musical instruments such as gongs, conch shells, etc.

The holy siblings got bathed by the servitors with 108 pitchers of holy, fragrant water drawn from a mysterious well known as the 'Sunakua' or the 'Golden Well' inside the temple.

After the ceremonial bath, the deities are decked up with specially made elephant masks popularly known as 'Gajanana Besha' or 'Hathi Besha'.

Later, the deities return to the temple and are placed at 'Anasaragruha' (isolation room).

It is said that the holy siblings suffer fever due to the bathing and remain out of bound for all, except Daita and Paita servitors.

The idols of the three deities then make an appearance after 14 days of 'anasara' or quarantine in a new appearance known as "Naba Jaubana Darshana".

On the auspicious occasion of Snana Purnima, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi visited Puri and offered prayers to Lord Jagannath on the 'Snana Bedi' (bathing altar).

After witnessing the divine ritual, he proceeded to the Srimandir (Jagannath Temple) and later inspected the ongoing construction work of the chariots for the upcoming Rath Yatra.

"I prayed to the Lord Jagannath for the happiness, peace and well being of people across the globe as well as Odisha. I also prayed for the smooth and hassle-free conduct of the upcoming Ratha Yatra festival," said CM Majhi.

He also expressed satisfaction over the preparations by the district administration and servitors for the Snana Purnima rituals at Puri.

The Puri Police has made elaborate arrangements for crowd control and to avoid any untoward incident during the Snana Yatra festival.

As many as 70 platoons of police force and 450 officers have been deployed for security arrangements during the Snana Yatra.

(IANS)

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