Jagannath Temple, Puri – Snana
Yatra
The Snana Yatra is a bathing festival celebrated
on the Purnima (full
moon day) of the Hindu month of Jyestha. It
is an important festival of the Jagannath devotees. It is the birth day of Lord
Jagannath. This is the first occasion in the year as per the Hindu calendar,
when the deities Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra,
Sudarshan, and Madan Mohan are brought out from the Jagannath Temple (Puri) and
taken in a procession to the Snana Bedi.
On the day of the Snana Yatra,
the deities are bathed with 108 pots, of ritually purified water drawn from the
northern well of the temple to the accompaniment of religious
incantations. In the evening, at the conclusion of the bathing ritual,
Jagannath and Balabhadra are dressed up in elephant headgear representing the
God Ganesh.
This form of the God is called the 'Gajavesha'.
It is a belief among devotees of
Lord Jagannath that if they make a pilgrimage to see the deity on this day,
they would be cleansed of all of their sins. Hundreds of thousands of devotees
visit the temple on the occasion. The Skanda
Purana mentions that King Indradyumna arranged this ceremony
for the first time when the idols of the deities were first installed.
After the Snana Yatra the Gods
are traditionally believed to fall ill and are kept in a sick room to
recuperate in privacy under the care of the Raj Vaidya. During this period
known as Anasara the Gods cannot be seen by devotees. At this time three
pata chitra paintings are displayed for devotees to view instead.
It is said that with the Ayurvedic medication
administered by the Raj Vaidya the Gods recover in a fortnight and
resume giving an audience to their devotees. During the Anasara period devotees
head to the Alarnath Temple in Brahmagiri in the
belief that Jagannath manifests as Alarnath during this period.
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