Bhubaneswar, June 13: The Jagannath temple administration today said that devotees would not be allowed to touch the deities - Jagannath and his siblings - on the occasion of Snana Purnima or grand bath ceremony.

However, the devotees will be allowed to have a glimpse of the deities from close.

Temple administration announced its decision after holding a meeting with the servitors' association. The Daitapati Niyog of the Puri temple, however, yesterday decided to urge the administration to allow the devotees to touch the deities.

Temple chief administrator Suresh Mohapatra said: "We will make barricades and ensure that the devotees get to see the deities. If we allow people to touch the deities, there will be indiscipline. We will ensure that devotees get darshan from close quarters."

Snana Purnima, an integral part of rath yatra, will be held on June 20. Nearly two lakh people are expected to visit Puri to have a special darshan of the deities, as they will not be able to see the idols for 14 days at a stretch.

According to the Jagannath culture, the day coincides with the full-moon day of the month of Jyestha. On that day, Lord Jagannath and his siblings would come out of the sanctum sanctorum and take bath with 108 pitchers of water at the snana mandap.

After the bath, the deities are decked up in Ganesh or Gajanan or hati vesha. "This is the most striking vesha of Lord Jagannath. The bhoga offered during this time, too, draws a lot of devotees," said Ramchandra Das Mohapatra.

Another senior servitor, Rama Krushna Das Mohapatra, said: "As the ritual is associated with the cycle of human nature, the God, just like human beings, falls sick after taking bath and remains confined to the temple for 14 days before giving naba jauban darshan to the devotees."

The temple administration has also decided to resume the naba jauban darshan, a ceremony on the day preceding the rath yatra, which had been stopped last year because of Nabakalebar festival.

The servitors, who had earlier taken a confrontationist stand, have welcomed the decision of the temple administration. "To ensure a peaceful darshan, we have extended our support to the temple administration," said senior servitor Jagannath Swain Mohapatra.

However, the temple administration will install close circuit television cameras to keep a watch on the movement of the people.