Lord Jagannath with his siblings in gaja besha on the occasion of the holy bath ceremony at Puri temple on Wednesday. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, June 15: Thousands of devotees today braved heavy downpour to witness rituals associated with maha snan (holy bath) of the lords at the Jagannath temple in Puri.

Post bath, the lords were bedecked with flowers resembling elephants. The special attire is called gaja besha. There is a belief that those who witness this special attire of the lords are absolved of all sins.

“The rituals were performed smoothly and completed one-and-a-half hours ahead of schedule,” chief administrator of temple, Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra told The Telegraph.

Mohapatra said the rituals began at 2am last night and “everything went on smoothly” despite the inclement weather.

In fact, this year the rituals were held early keeping in view the lunar eclipse taking place today. Cooking and offering of prasad were prohibited after 2.30pm.

The idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra were brought to the snan mandap (bathing platform) at around 2am one after another amid beating of gongs and chants of haribol. The deities were carried in a swaying manner, which is called pahandi bije.

After the deities were placed on the bathing platform, the much awaited maha snan ritual began. The deities were bathed with scented water brought in 108 pitchers. The water was brought from suna kua (a holy well on the temple premises), which is believed to contain water from all holy places across the world.

There was a mad scramble among the devotees to take the water used for the holy bath of the deities.

Following the ritual, Gajapati king of Puri Dibyasingh Deb, who is considered as the “first servitor of the lords”, swept the floors of the snan mandap with a golden broom at around 9.55am.

The lords, dressed in new clothes and bedecked with flowers, were then kept for the darshan.

Mohapatra said: “The deities were brought back to the sanctum sanctorum ahead of schedule on request of the servitors as they were drenched in rain.”

Later, the deities were shifted to anasar ghar (sick chamber) as they had fallen “sick” after taking bath. The deities will be kept away from public view for 15 days, as they would be treated in the sick chamber. The rejuvenated lords will then go out for a nine-day retreat to the Mausima temple on chariots on July 3.

Elaborate security arrangements were made in and round the 12th century temple to prevent any possible terrorist attack or untoward incident.

Close circuit TV cameras were installed at strategic points, while bomb disposal squads and rapid action forces deployed outside the temple premises.

“Adequate police forces had been deployed. The ceremony passed off peacefully without any untoward incident,” Puri superintendent of police A.N. Sinha told The Telegraph.