Banaka Lagi rituals of Lord Jagannath today, Temple to remain closed for 4 hours

Puri: The Sri Mandir at Odisha’s Puri will remain closed for fours hours today due to ‘Banaka Lagi’ or Srimukha sringara ritual of Lord Jagannath and his siblings at the temple. The darshan of the deities will be restricted for the devotees for four hours from 4 PM to 8 PM.

Only a small group of ‘pujaris’ will be allowed inside the ‘garba gruha’ or sanctum sanctorum for the rituals.

The Holy Trinity (Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra) along with Lord Sudarshan of Puri Sri Mandir will adorn a new look after a special make-up ritual on the ratnabedi. The ritual is performed seven to eight times a year.

Banaka Lagi derives its name from ‘Bana’ meaning forest and ‘Lagi’ meaning apply. According to culture experts, certain rare forest products are used to prepare the four types of colours- haritala (red), hengula (yellow), sankha (white) and black and these are then applied to the face of the deities. Banaka Lagi ritual of the deities is performed by a particular class of servitor known as Datta Mahapatra.

Meanwhile, the Shree Jagannatha Temple Administration (SJTA) administration as well as the District administration has made special arrangements for Kartika month. As many as eight platoon police forces will be deployed at the temple for darshan.

It is noteworthy of that the darshan timings will be from 7 AM to 9 PM on all days except for one day as the temple will remain closed for public Darshan on all Sundays as a measure to contain the spread of Corona Virus disease and in order to sanitize the temple premises.

The temple will also remain closed on major festive occasions in order to avoid any spike in transmission of COVID-19 on account of large gathering that is anticipated on such festive occasions. In November, temple will remain closed for darshan on November 4 (Deepavali), November 15 (Bada Ekadashi) and November 19 (Kartika Purnima).

Also read: Holy Kartika month rituals begin at Srimandir from today, Check detailed schedule here