Lakhs of devotees gathered in Puri on Wednesday to witness Deva Snana Purnima, the ceremonial precursor to the annual Rath Yatra of the deities housed in the Jagannath temple.

The Rath Yatra is scheduled for June 27.

This year, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration remained extra vigilant, following a recent controversy involving some servitors who had attended the inauguration of the Digha Jagannath temple in Bengal on April 30.

The event had drawn criticism, and tensions remain over the branding of the Digha temple as “Jagannath Dham”. Despite Odisha’s request, the Bengal government has yet to remove signage referring to the Digha shrine as such.

Rama Krushna Das Mohapatra, who had been suspended for a month for his participation in the Digha temple event, resumed his duties. “I also did my seva with a sense of dedication and devotion. We live for the Lord only,” said Das Mohapatra.

To ensure safety and order, around 70 platoons of police and an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) were deployed outside the temple premises. “To ensure utmost security during the sacred rituals, ATS has been strategically deployed at Shree Jagannath Temple,” Puri police posted on X. Badadanda Sathi volunteers were also on duty to assist senior citizens and divyang devotees.

Despite tight security, miscreants managed to fly a drone over the temple and record visuals of the rituals. Efforts are under way to seize the drone and arrest its handler.

The daylong rituals began early in the morning and are expected to continue till late at night. The highlight was the “pahandi bije”, the ceremonial procession during which the deities are brought out from the sanctum to the Snana Bedi (bathing platform).

Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who completes his first year in office on Thursday, visited Puri to seek the blessings of the deities.

As per tradition, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra are ritually bathed with 108 pitchers of water mixed with coconut water and floral extracts on the Snana Bedi, symbolically to offer them relief from the summer heat.

Following the bath, it is believed that the deities fall ill and remain in hibernation for 15 days, during which they are not accessible to devotees. They will reappear on “Naba Jauban” day, a day before the Rath Yatra.

Puri’s titular king Dibya Singh Deb arrived at the Snana Mandap in a royal procession and performed the ceremonial sweeping of the platform with a golden broom.

Later in the day, the deities appeared in Gajavesha (elephant attire). “There is a rich history behind this attire of Lord Jagannath. A devotee from Karnataka, who was an ardent follower of Lord Ganesh, once wished to see Lord Jagannath in the form of Ganesh. The Lord granted his wish and since then, this attire has been a part of the rituals,” said a senior servitor.

Servitor ‘murdered’

A senior servitor of the Shree Jagannath temple was allegedly murdered in Puri on Wednesday.

The deceased servitor has been identified as Jagannath Dixit, 74. Sources said that after the bathing rituals of the deities, Dixit had reportedly gone to the house of an acquaintance for some work. Later, his body was found in a pool of blood.

Puri superintendent of police Vinit Agrawal said: “Personal enmity could be one of the reasons for the murder. Efforts are on to apprehend the accused.”