Puri: Hundreds of devotees on Monday thronged the Alarnath Temple near Brahmagiri in Odisha’s Puri district as Lord Jagannath and his siblings Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra are away from public view in Srimandir after the Mana Snana ritual on Debasnana Purnima on Sunday.
As per tradition, the Trinity goes into hibernation for a fortnight – ‘anasara’ or ‘Anavasara’—after they fall sick after the bath ritual with 108 pitchers of holy water. During this period, devotees seek the blessings of the deities at Alarnath Temple.
The Alarnath temple administration has made elaborate arrangements for the darshan of the presiding deity and a beeline of devotees was seen at the temple since early Monday morning. The pilgrims not only congregate here for the darshan of the presiding deity but for the famous khiri (rice porridge) here.
The presiding deity at Alarnath Temple is a four-armed standing Vishnu made of black chlorite.
It is believed that the Alarnath temple became the devotional destination during this period ever since Prabhu Chaitanya visited it after he missed the view of Lord Jagannath in Puri during ‘anasara’.
According to legend, the temple was built by the Alwar rulers of Rajasthan and, hence, it is named Alwarnath, which later became Alarnath.
The patta paintings known as ‘Anasara patti’ or ‘Anavasara patti’ of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Devi Subhadra are worshipped in the 12th-century shrine during the ‘Anasara’ period.
