Puri: Public will be barred from the darshan of Lord Jagannath and His siblings at Puri Srimandir for three hours today, informed the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
Public darshan will be suspended from 6pm to 9pm due to Banakalagi ritual.
According to the SJTA, public darshan will be restricted from 6 pm to 9 pm after the completion of the second Bhoga Mandap ritual. Devotees can, however, have darshan of the Holy Trinity after 9 pm.
Banakalagi Niti ritual is the application of fresh colours to the idols of Lord Jagannath and his sibling deities, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. The Dutta Mohapatra and Khadiprasad Daitapati servitors perform this ritual.
It is learnt that Banakalagi is the combination of two words ‘Bana’ which means forest and ‘Lagi’ means to apply. Certain and rare forest products such as haritala (red), hengula (yellow), sankha (white), and black are used to prepare four types of colours to be applied on the face of the deities.
