Suna Besha of the Deities on Their Chariots
[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

Jul 27, 2015 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — A large number of pilgrims thronged Puri and witnessed the annual Suna Besha of the newly carved Deities of Jagannath Temple on Monday. The Deities donned at least 208 kg. of gold and gave darshan to countless devotees on Their decked chariots in front of the 12th Century shrine.

Alarmed by the early morning terror strike in Punjab, the Odisha police stepped up security in and around the temple, which is considered a high risk category shrine in the country. The Suna Besha of the Deities continued till night. No untoward incident had been reported by the time of filing this report.

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

The temple witnesses Suna Besha on four other occasions—Dussehra, Kartika Purnima, Pausa Purnima and Dola Purnima— in a calendar year. While those four rituals are observed inside the temple, the Suna Besha performed following Rath Yatra is celebrated on chariots outside the temple.

Suna Besha is an important annual ritual performed after the end of Rath Yatra. According to legends, Suna Besha was introduced during the era of King Kapilendra Deb in 1460. "He had conquered another King and brought huge quantities on gold on 16 elephants to Puri. He donated all the gold to the Jagannath temple," said Rabindranath Pratihari, a veteran Jagannath Temple servitor.

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

In late afternoon, escorted by a posse of armed police men, at least twenty-five bhandara mekap priests (treasury keepers) brought the required gold from the temple's treasury onto the chariots. Sources said 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.

Asked whether all the types of gold designs that were prevalent in the past, are still intact, temple's spokesperson Laxmidhar 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," Pujapanda said.

Buoyed by improved road connectivity and introduction of special trains by East Coast Railway, pilgrims from far and wide set their feet in the temple town. Security was tightened around the chariots to protect the gold-clad deities. Holding AK-47 and machine guns in hands, the armed security personnel occupied the vantage locations around the chariots. Around 100 sharp shooters stood guard on rooftops around the chariots, parked right in front Jagannath Temple. "Even though history has not witnessed any attack on the chariots during Suna Besha, we took adequate security arrangements to avoid any untoward incident," said Puri SP Ashish Singh.

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]