Puri: As Lord Balabhadra, Mahaprabhu Jagannath and Devi Subhadra are on their annual sojourn, the Hera Panchami ritual will be performed today i.e on the fifth day of Rath Yatra. On Hera Panchami, Goddess Laxmi expresses her anger at Lord Jagannath for leaving her alone at Srimandir and staying at his aunt’s abode with his siblings.
As per rituals, after taking advice from Goddess Bimala, an upset Goddess Laxmi will go to Gundicha Temple in a bimana (decorated palanquin) to see Lord Jagannath. She will be escorted by her servitors in a colourful procession through the Badadanda.
After reaching the temple, the palanquin will halt near Nandighosha chariot where she will be welcomed with ‘Bandapana’ by Pati Mahapatra servitors. Later, Goddess Laxmi will be taken to Lord Jagannath through the ‘Jaya Bijaya Dwara’ where she will receive an ‘agyan mala’ (a garland of consent) from Pati Mahapatra servitors on behalf of the Lord who will assure the Goddess to return to Srimandir after three days.
As per rituals, while returning, she will ask her servitors to break a part of the Nandighosa and later return to the Srimandir secretly through Nakachana gate via Gohiri Sahi route.
Yesterday, the Banaka Lagi rituals of the sibling deities were performed by the Dutta Mahapatra servitors due to which public darshan of the Lords was restricted after 9 pm on Sunday till Monday morning.