Pilgrims Wait to See Gold-clad Deities

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

[Photos by Sampradaya Sun]
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Jul 21, 2010 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — That Lord Jagannath is one of the richest Deities in the country is no secret. And devotees will get an inkling of the Lord's opulence when Jagannath along with His siblings, Balabhadra and Subhadra, don huge quantities of gold ornaments on the occasion of suna besha on Thursday. Suna besha is an important annual ritual performed after the end of Rath Yatra. Pilgrims can catch a glimpse of the glittering Deities aboard Their respective chariots from 5pm onwards on Thursday. "The suna besha will continue till 11pm or even more then the stipulated time," the temple's Public Relations Officer, Laxmidhar Pujapanda said.

Those who plan to return from Puri after the end of Bahuda Yatra (return car festival) of the presiding Deities of Jagannath temple on Wednesday should stay back to see the gold-clad Deities on Their chariots.

According to temple history, suna besha was introduced during the era of King Kapilendra Deb in 1460. "He had conquered another King and brought huge quantities of gold on 16 elephants to Puri. He donated all the gold to the Jagannath Temple," said Rabindranath Pratihari, a veteran Jagannath Temple priest.

During the shining occasion of suna besha, the Deities will put the gold jewelries, weighing nearly 208 kg (2 quintal 8 kg) on their bodies, a temple source said. Puri temple witnesses suna besha on four other occasions in a calendar year —Dussehra, Kartika Purnima, Pausa Purnima and Dola Purnima. But those four occasions are observed inside the temple only, whereas the suna besha performed after Rath Yatra is celebrated on chariots, outside the temple.

The gold ornaments are stored at the temple's bhandara ghar. Being escorted by a posse of armed policemen and temple officials, at least twenty-five bhandara mekap priests (store in-charge) will bring the required gold from the artery onto the chariots.

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"The bhandara mekap priests bring the gold onto the chariots and hand it over to puspalaka and daitapati priests, who will decorate the Deities with gold jewelry laced with invaluable stones," said Pratihari. It will take nearly one hour to decorate the Deities with Their gold ornaments.

"During the reign of Kapilendra Deb, the Deities used to wear gold of nearly 138 designs. But these days, the Deities are donning only twenty or thirty types of designs," Pratihari informed.

Meanwhile, asked whether all the types of gold designs that were prevalent in the past are still intact, Pujapanda said, "almost all of them are intact. Whenever required, we do repairing". "Raw gold donated by pilgrims is used to repair the ornaments of Deities," he said.

Sources said the Jagannath Temple administration received more than 10 kg gold from devotees in the last ten years. The shrine officials, however, refused to divulge the exact quantity and value of gold stored in temple.

On the other hand, the temple administration claimed to have taken measures to promote and popularise suna besha, which unlike Rath Yatra, is yet to be spread in every nook and cranny of the country.

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"Rath Yatra has earned the distinction of becoming a pan-Indian festival. Pilgrims from far off places come here to participate in the Rath Yatra only. While a few stay till the Bahuda Yatra, many pilgrims leave the place before the occasion of suna besha. Mostly people from the state throng to witness the besha," said a temple official. "But this time, we have tried to spread the besha message through websites and information brochures to draw more crowd," the official added.

Meanwhile, a toned-up security arrangement has been made for safe and smooth conduct of the festival. "Even though history has not witnessed any attack on the Lords during the suna besha, we will not take it casually. Strong police arrangements have been made," said Puri SP, Sanjay Kumar.

Police also claimed to have taken precautionary measures to avoid a near-stampede situation during the crowded ritual. Apprehending traffic problems, the district police have earmarked certain parking places in the city in order to avoid traffic snarls.