Chief servitor of Lord Jagannath Jagannath Swain Mohapatra prepare medicinal dishes to be administered to the deities. Pictures by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, July 1: The fever was high last week, but ailing deities of the Puri Jagannath temple are slowly recovering with doses of traditional medicines.

Although it will take more than a week for them to heal completely, the ancestral vaidyas are continuing to treat the trio with absolute devotion.

In the secret place or anasara ghara where Lord Jagannath and Balabhadra along with sister Subhadra have been shifted owing to a fever since Debasnan Purnima, there are prayers for the deities to recover soon.

Servitors and healers are performing various rites so that the deities return to good health.

The daily worship rituals take a different form during the hibernation period every year wherein prayers are conducted devoid of loud sounds of gongs, conch and bells.

Different herbal pastes are applied on the idols of the deities throughout the day as prescribed by the vaidyas. The servitors also offer the special medicinal dishes prepared by the healers.

An oil massage with a specially prepared lotion — the phuluri tela — is also being applied everyday since Friday. This lotion is prepared almost a year before during rath yatra for the next year.

Like all medicines used for the deities, the phuluri is made of natural elements, mainly flowers such as ketaki, malli, boula, champa, kia; barks and roots such as benachara, sesame oil, sandalwood powder, camphor, rice grains and other ingredients.

It is prepared at the Bada Odia Matha in the pilgrim town. The healers at the monastery are assigned with the duty of preparing this special lotion.

“It is an essential treatment method for viral infections and not only does it apply for the deities but for anyone with fever. These methods were taught to us by our forefathers who learnt it from theirs,” said Adhikari Mahant Bansidhar Das Goswami, the chief of the Bada Odia Matha.A series of other medicinal lotions will now be applied on the deities for their quick recovery.

These services are known as osa lagi. Apart from medicines, the lords are offered milk-based products as food.

“We offer cheese, cream and other milk products during this period. The offerings are then formed into a traditional Odia beverage, the pana, that is distributed among visiting devotees. It is extremely popular among the devotees,” said chief servitor Jagannath Swain Mohapatra.

The deities will heal by rath yatra on July 10 this year.