Snana Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Puri of Odisha tomorrow

Puri: The famous Snana Yatra of Lord Jagannath and His siblings will be held tomorrow at the Srimandira premises in the holy town of Puri in Odisha. This is for the first time that the festival will not be witnessed live by devotees. Rather, they can watch it on TV and internet as virtual audience.

As per reports, the servitors of Srimandira and Puri district administration have made all the preparations regarding the festival.

Although the festival is tomorrow, execution of the rituals will commence from late night today. As per schedule the pahandi of the idols will begin at about 1 am tonight and the trinity will be at the Snana Mandap by 4 am. Execution of the following rituals like mangala alati, mailama, abakasha, Surya puja and Dwarapala puja will commence from 4. 30 am. The actual holy bathe, called ‘jalarchana lagi’, will start at 7.30 am. It will continue for a couple of hours while the Chherapahanra by Puri Gajapati Maharaj will be held at 10.30 am. Later the trinity will wear the ‘Hatibesha’ (Elephant attire) in between 11 am and 12 noons.

This year Sahanamela darshan has been closed in the wake of Coronavirus. The ‘bahuda pahandi’ (Return of the idols to the Ratnamandapa) will be performed in between 5 pm to 8 pm in the evening.

As per reports, as many as 150 Daitapatis are to be engaged to perform the rituals on Snana Yatra. 60 Daitapatis will be engaged in the service of Lord Jagannath, 50 will be for Sri Balabhadra and 30 servitors will be in the service of Devi Subhadra while 10 servitors will be engaged for Sudarshana for execution of the rituals during Snana Purnima 2020.

The Bahuda Pahandi of Lord Jagannath and his siblings and Lord Sudarshan will be between 5 pm and 8 pm, after which they will enter the ‘Anasara Ghara’.