Bhubaneswar, July 5: A recurring gap in the rituals surrounding the Trinity at the Puri Jagannath temple has come to light.

Traditionally, Lord Jagannath and His siblings have 32 veshas (attires) that are organised by the servitors. But it appears that one of them - Raghunath vesha (Lord Ram Chandra's attire) - has not taken place in the past 110 years.

The recorded history of the 12th century shrine reveals that the Raghunath vesha has been organised nine times, the last one being in 1905.

Lord Jagananth and His siblings are dressed in various outfits, known as vesha, on different occasions. There are 32 kinds of veshas, and the temple authorities facilitate the servitors to organise these. However, the last time the Lord and His siblings were seen in the attires of Lord Ram was in 1905.

Eminent scholar and former deputy administrator of the Jagannath temple Bhaskar Mishra told The Telegraph that the Raghunath vesha had not been organised since 1905 "as it involves elaborate arrangements".

"The temple administration had made attempts in 1969 and 1980 to organise this special ritual. But it failed on both the occasions," he said, adding that the gold ornaments of Lord Jagananth, including two golden bows and arrows, which are required for this vesha were in bad shape.

"They need to be repaired and successive temple administrations have been avoiding it because of the cost factor," he said.

Another reason for not holding the special event, he said, was because it would attract a huge crowd that would be difficult to manage. "In 1905, there was such rush that the authorities had to keep the temple open for two days to let the devotees to have a darshan of the deities. A stampede-like situation had occurred," said Mishra, who has accessed the temple documents.

The Raghunath vesha requires the attire of the deities to stretch from the ratna vedi (where the idols are installed) to about 10 feet, which leaves very little space for the devotees to enter the sanctum sanctorum.

Mishra also said the servitors, who used to dress up the deities on the occasion, were no more and the current generation of servitors lacked the necessary skill to organise the vesha.

Chief servitor of Lord Jagannath Jagannath Swain Mohapatra said: "I can't recollect about Shri Raghunath vesha."

Public relations officer of the temple Laxmidhar Puja Panda also expressed his ignorance about this particular vesha. "I have to check for information on this ritual because it is more than 100 years old."

"All the veshas have special significance and attract a large number of devotees. There are many reasons why the deities are decorated in a particular way on a particular occasion," said research scholar Sarbadaman Singh.

A temple official said the attires of the deities on the special occasions were generally made of cotton and silk and decorated with gold ornaments, precious stones, flowers and other materials. "But, the Raghunatha vesha is a complex one and requires lot of planning," the official said.

Shree Jagannath Sena activist Priyadarshan Patnaik said: "When the state government cannot handle the naba yauban darshan (darshan of Trinity a day before the car festival) on July 17, how can they dare organise the rare Raghunath vesha?"