Barricades put up to make place for devotees on Grand Road in Puri on Thursday. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, June 12: All preparations are almost over for the deva snana purnima, a special part of rath yatra, to be held tomorrow.

Nearly three lakh people are expected to throng 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 come out of the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine and take bath with 108 pitchers of water on the snana mandap.

After the bath, the deities are decked up in Ganesh or Gajanan or hati vesh. “This is the most attractive vesh of Lord Jagannath. The bhoga offered during this time, too, attracts a lot of devotees,” said Jagananth Swain Das Mohapatra.

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

The temple administration said the rituals for the deva snana purnima would begin at 3.30am and the deities — Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Sudarshan — would come out of the temple to the snana mandap in pahendi (ritual procession). The bathing rituals will begin at 9.30am onwards till 11.30am.

Puri King Gajapati Dibya Singh Deb will arrive at the snana mandap at 12.30pm to perform the chhea panhara (to clean the mandap using a broomstick).

“It symbolises the rich Jagannath culture. Donning the role of a sweeper, the King turns into a common man. Everyone, including the King, is just a common man before the Lord. It also speaks of brotherhood,” said Swain Das Mohapatra.

The Gajanan vesha will begin from 3pm onwards. According to the scheduled programme, the deities will return to the temple after 10.30pm. However, daitapatis, who are in charge of managing the deities’ rituals, said the Lord’s darshan would continue till midnight.

Basant Kumar Rana, a member of the Raghab Das Mutt, said: “We will soon send the tahias (the decorative headgear of the deities, which will be used tomorrow during the ceremony when Lord Jagannath and His siblings come out of the temple and return).”

The tahias are important part of the rath yatra ritual. It is made of cane, bamboo sticks, solapith, flowers and colours (minimal, red and zinc, are used).

In order to ensure a smooth darshan of the Lord, barricades have been put in place. Closed-circuit cameras have already been installed. “We have made adequate police arrangement to ensure that people have a good darshan of the deities without facing any problems,” said Puri superintendent of police Anup Sahu.