Lord Jagannath’s ‘Banakalagi’ ritual to be held tomorrow; no public darshan for 5 hours

The 40-day-long impasse over the ‘Banakalagi’ ritual of Lord Jagannath and his siblings is going to end tomorrow. The much-awaited ‘Banakalagi’ ritual will be held at Srimandir in Puri on Wednesday. 

Sources said, for the observance of this ritual, the public view of the Holy Trinity will be suspended from 6pm to 11pm after the completion of the second ‘Bhoga Mandap’. 

It is pertinent to mention here that the ritual of the deities should have been observed after the Niladribije ritual. But it couldn’t be held due to a dispute over the day of the ritual between the Dattamohapatra servitors and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). 

Because of the postponement of this ritual, the faces of the deities, as the devotees alleged, were looking dull. 

While the Dattamohapatra servitors were insisting that the ritual be held on Thursdays, the SJTA was sticking to Wednesdays. 

After several rounds of meetings, the Srimandir Managing Committee on August 4 agreed to conduct the Banakalagi ritual of the deities twice a month, on Wednesdays.