Stage all set for Niladri Bije of Trinity today

The nine-day sojourn of Lord Jagannath and His siblings will come to an end with Niladri Bije. 

Following the Adhara Pana ritual in which the deities were offered a special pana on their respective chariots, the Trinity and Sudarshan will be taken to the Srimandir in a ceremonial procession on Tuesday.

The Holy Trinity and Sudarshan will be taken to the Srimandir in a ceremonial procession called Goti Pahandi. The ritual is scheduled to be conducted in the afternoon.

Rituals like Mangala Alati, Mailama, Sakaladhupa, Madhyanna Dhupa, Sandhya Alati and Sandhaya Dhupa will be performed on the chariots today. All the rituals will be followed by the Charamala tying. Later, the Goti Pahandi will begin. 

All the rituals are expected to start early as all other rituals during the Ratha Jatra were conducted much before their scheduled times.

The Niladri Bije ritual does not have a smooth ending due to intervention of Goddess Lakhmi. She will let Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Sudarshana enter the temple, but when Lord Jagannath makes entry to the temple, she will be seen ordering her servitors to close the Jaya Vijaya gate of the Singhadwar.  

Lord Jagannath had left her behind in the temple while going to his aunt’s house along with her brother and sister. On Hera Panchami day, Goddess Lakhmi went to Gundhicha temple to meet Lord Jagannath but he closed the door of Gundicha temple and did not meet her.

In order to appease his upset wife, Lord Jagannath offers her rasagulla to pacify her. After a long conversation, Goddess Lakhmi finally calms down and accepts Lord Jagannath’s apology. The ritual to pacify Goddess Lakhmi is called Mana Bhanjan. Later, the deities will be allowed to proceed to the shrine.

After a gap of two years, the entire extravaganza beginning from Gundicha Jatra to Bahuda and Suna Besha was carried out in the presence of devotees.

On Monday, the temple servitors offered the drink in the pitchers to the Trinity after performing ‘Sodosha Upachar Pooja’. The pots are kept in such a way that they should touch the lips of the deities. 

Soon after the offering late in the night, the earthen pots were broken on the chariots spilling the entire drink on the platform.  Later, these pots were broken to liberate the souls, spirits and other invisible beings residing in the chariots.