Three deities — (from left) Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Jagannath — during the bathing ceremony at the Jagannath temple in Puri on Friday. Picture by Sarat Patra

Puri, June 13: Lakhs of devotees today thronged the town to witness the deva snana (holy bath of deities) at the snana mandap on the Jagannath temple premises.

The rituals, however, got delayed by three hours.

The temple administration’s chief Arvind Padhee said: “Though the process got delayed by few hours, with co-operation from everyone, everything is going smoothly.”

The deities came out from the temple in a procession (pahandi vije) around 7am. The bathing rituals completed around 2.50pm. Lord Jagannath and His siblings took bath by 108 pitchers of water.

Chief servitor Jagganath Swain Das Mohapatra said: “Today is the birthday of Lord Jagannath. We consider ourselves as the Lord’s brothers. We will be performing all the rituals for nearly one month till rath yatra gets over. It’s a special moment for us.”

After the bathing rituals were over, Puri King Gajapati Maharaja Dibya Singh Deb came on a palanquin from his palace and performed his traditional duty of a sweeper on the snana mandap, where the deities take the bath. With a golden broom in hand, he, like a sweeper, cleaned all the three chariots. “The seva (unique service) of Maharaja signifies that everyone before the Lord is equal,” said senior sevayat Ramkrushna Dasmohapatra.

Next the deities were dressed like Ganesh, the elephant god. The vesha (special attire) attracts a huge crowd every year.

Despite the scorching heat, devotees surged to the town to witness the ritual baths of Lord Jagannath and His siblings. “I, along with my family, have come from Allahabad to witness the snana purnima of the Lord. For the past four years, I have been witnessing all rituals associated with rath yatra. The rath festival begins from today,” said Wing Commander Bikash Kanungo, adding that one darshan of the Lord gave one the required energy to continue with one’s work for the rest of the year.

Not only Kanungo, a number of foreigners have also thronged Puri to witness the festival. “It is a wonderful experience to see the Lord taking bath like a human being. This is unique and amusing,” said Ayano Nakamura, who teaches Japanese in Puri.

According to the tradition, the deities, after taking bath with 108 pots of water, will fall sick. Later, they will be taken to the anasar ghar (sick chamber) inside the sanctum sanctorum, and no one will be allowed to get the deities’ glimpse for 14 days. The day before rath yatra, the devotees will be allowed to enter the temple to have the Lord’s darshan, known as naba jauban darshan, when the deities recover from their 14-day long sickness.