Servitors at king’s palace in Puri during the saribandha ritual. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, July 4: Thirteen days after the deities of Puri Jagannath temple fell ill, servitors of the lords brought some good news to the king: the trio are recovering fast.

As the chief servitors brought the news to the royal residence of the Puri king, a series of rituals were observed in keeping with traditions of the forthcoming rath yatra. One of them was the ancient turban-tying ritual known as saribandha.

The treatment of the deities began on June 24, the day after they had a “lavish” bath on Debasnana Purnima, which caused them to fall ill. A slew of medicines and massages followed recommended by the vaidyas, hereditary doctors of the deities. The servitors too conducted special services for the time that the sibling trio were recuperating, also known as anasara.

The servitors almost tiptoed around to avoid disturbing the ailing trio, avoiding the usual loud worship rituals, including music and prayers. The deities even had a special diet to aid their recuperation. “Herbal food items such as dasa mula, which the vaidya made using the barks and roots of medicinal plants, were offered. The medicinal phuluri oil was used to massage the deities,” said Jagannath Swain Mohapatra, the chief servitor of Lord Jagannath. “Abada, the special rice cooked in the temple, has not been served since the past week,” he added.

With the continuous care and treatment, the deities are slowly regaining their health, said chief servitor Ramachandra Das Mohapatra.

“Many of the usual worship rituals were reinstated since the deities appeared better. Today, we applied sandalwood paste on the deities after which we visited the king’s residence,” said Das Mohapatra.

A procession of the important servitors visited Gajapati Dibya Singh Deb with the news of the deities’ improvement in health. They brought with them tokens of blessings from Lord Jagannath. Arranged on a large silver platter, the servitors carried the dried sandalwood flakes from Jagannath’s body along with the deity’s patta clothes.

In return for receiving the “delightful” news, the king conducted the saribandha ritual. Saribandha is an ancient ritual in which the king illustrates his respect for the servitors by having a turban tied around their heads. The king does not perform this ritual on his own. His servitor, known as Behera Karana, ties the turbans on his behalf. This ritual is also conducted when young servitors are first inducted into service at the temple.

“The saribandha ritual is a mark of respect for us servitors. After this, the king discussed with us ‘datitapatis’, or chief servitors, the health of the lord and his treatment,” said Das Mohapatra.

With just six days left for rath yatra scheduled for July 10, the chariot construction work has also been speeded up since the trio will go for a vacation to Gundicha temple after recovering completely from the ailment.