Devotees gather in Puri for the 'Suna Besha' ceremony of deities Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra (Pic/PTI)
The servitors decorated the idols with golden attire. The sibling deities — Lord Balabhara, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath — wear gold jewellery weighing nearly 208 kg on the occasion of Suna Besha, a tradition which has been continuing since 1460
Escorted by armed police personnel and temple officials, the 'Bhandara Mekap' servitors (store in-charge) bring the gold jewellery laced with invaluable stones and hand it over to the Puspalaka and Daitapati servitors for adorning the deities
The 'Suna Besha' started at 4.45 pm, much ahead of the scheduled time of 6.30 pm, an official said
Temple sources informed that the deities adorn such golden jewellery at least five times a year. While one such ritual is held outside the temple on chariots during the Rath Yatra, it is held inside the shrine on four occasions: Dussehra, Kartika Purnima, Pausa Purnima and Dola Purnima
The Odisha Police deployed around 205 platoons (one platoon comprises 30 personnel) of state police apart from 800 jawans of the Central Armed Police Force for crowd management and law and order during the ‘Suna Besha’ ritual
ADVERTISEMENT
