It is believed that when the holy flag or the Patitapabana Bana of Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri is white, it is an indication of heavy rain. A white flag was seen atop Puri Srimandir’s Nilachakra and it was put up yesterday evening (May 24th). The flag atop the Nilachakra of is not chosen by the temple administration or the servitors but is selected on the basis of a lottery. At a time when Cyclone Yaas is hurtling towards the State, the flag coincidentally came up as white in the lottery which signifies heavy rainfall. It is believed that the coincidence is an indication of the rainfall that will accompany Cyclone Yaas. Senior Srimandir Servitor, Dr. Sarat Mohanty said, When we see a white flag atop Puri Srimandir, then within a period of 24 hours, heavy rainfall is witnessed. We can see that yesterday the climate was dry and after the flag was hoisted at 5PM yesterday, we have been witnessing rain since. Though it is an indication of an impending cyclone, we have to understand that the flag atop Puri Srimandir is chosen on a random basis through a lottery. What we can understand from the white flag being hoisted on Srimandir is that Lord Jagannath knows everything. After the forecast of the cyclone scared his devotees & people across Odisha, Lord Jagannath is trying to allay fears through this white flag and saying that there will be only rainfall.