Security beefed up at Puri for Snana Purnima

Earlier in the morning lakhs of devotees thronged to Puri to have a darshan of deities - Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Sudarshan on Snana Mandapa. At 7.15 am the idols were taken out of Ratna Singhasan in a ceremonial Pahandi to the Snana Mandap (bathing altar). Traditionally, the deities will be bathed with 108 pitchers of aromatic water by the servitors. Going by rituals, 35 pitchers of water will be poured on Lord Jagannath while 33, 22 and 18 pitchers will be poured on Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Sudarshan, respectively.

Following this, all the deities will be dressed in elephant attire popularly known as ‘Hathi Vesha’ and devotees can get darshan of the deities in the Sahana mela. Since the deities will fall sick after the bathing ceremony for 15 days, devotees can have darshan of Lord Jagannath at Allarnath temple in Bramagiri, around 25 km from Puri.