Puri, June 20: A 60-year-old woman was today killed in a stampede during the Dev Snana Purnima, which drew lakhs of devotees to the pilgrim city.

Annapurna Behera, who had been to the temple for darshan of the deities with her two sisters, fell down and was crushed under the crowd as she tried to resist an attempt by a goon to snatch her gold chain. She was taken to the district hospital here in a serious condition but succumbed to her injuries.

Defying the scorching heat and humidity, lakhs of devotees thronged this pilgrim city to participate in Deva Snana Purnima, the prologue to rath yatra. With this, the ball has been set rolling for the mega event that will take place on July 6.

Though the rituals related to Deva Snana Purnima, the coming out of deities from the 12th century shrine to the open mandap through " pahendi vije" (the procession in which deities come out from the shrine) to take the ceremonial bath, was delayed by three hours, everything worked all right after the servitors volunteered to speed up the rituals.

Puri district collector Arvind Agarwal said: "With co-operation from all groups, all the rituals of the deities are going smoothly."

From tomorrow, the deities will be out of bounds for the devotees for 15 days. They will only give dasharn to the devotees on the naba jauban day, the day before rath yatra.

According to the rituals of Deva Snana Purnima, Lord Jagannath and His siblings - Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra - are carried to the snana bedi (bathing stage). Here they are given a holy bath with 108 pitchers of water mixed with coconut water, aromatic extracts from flowers to bring them respite from the summer heat.

Though last year, major differences had surfaced between the servitors and the administration related to the delay in transfer of souls of Lord Jagannath and His sibling during Nabakalabar, this year, the beginning of the rituals related to rath yatra began on a cordial note.

Jagananth Swain Mohapatra, chief servitor of the Lord Jagannath told The Telegraph: "We have sorted out our differences. We are extending all support to the administration to ensure that the rath yatra takes place peacefully and people get an opportunity to get a glimpse of the Lords."

Puri king Dibya Singh Deb arrived in time to clean the snana mandap with a golden broom. After Deb reached the snana mandap in a royal procession, the servitors welcomed him to the mandap. After performing the rituals, Deb left waving to the lakhs of devotees waiting on the Grand Road to get a glimpse of Lord Jagananath.

Before his arrival, Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nishalananda Saraswati also came to the snana mandap and offered his prayers to the deities.

Later, the deities dressed like elephants, gave darshan to the devotees. All of them appeared like Ganesh (the elephant god). "There is rich history behind the Ganesh besh of Lord Jagannath. A Ganesh devotee from Karanataka wanted to see Lord Jagananth in the form of Lord Ganesh. The Lord blessed him and when he saw the Lord, the deities looked to him like Ganesh. The ritual originated since that day," said Pandit Surya Narayan Rath Sharma.

Pranab Das, a retired schoolteacher who had gone to Puri to witness the snana purnima said: "I witnessed all the rituals of Lord Jagannath."However, Minakhi Mohanty, a retired doctor who earlier worked with Coal India, said: "I went to Puri last night to have a darshan of Lords as I would have felt uncomfortable in such a huge crowd. I will again come during the 10-day car festival."