Puri: The Srimandir at Puri will remain closed for 6 hours today due to ‘Banaka Lagi’ or Srimukha sringara ritual of Lord Jagannath and his siblings at the temple.
As informed by the I & PR department on ‘X,’ the general darshan of the deities will be suspended from 6 PM to 12 midnight as the Banakalagi ritual will be performed on the day of Baisakha Krushna Amabasya.
The general darshan will be closed after the completion of ‘Dwitiya Bhogamandap,’ the I&PR stated.
As per tradition, the ‘shringar’ rituals of the sibling deities are generally held seven to eight times a year starting with the one after the Niladri Bije ritual following Rath Yatra.
Banaka Lagi derives its name from ‘Bana’ meaning forest and ‘Lagi’ meaning apply. According to culture experts, certain rare forest products are used to prepare the four types of colours- haritala (red), hengula (yellow), sankha (white) and black and these are then applied to the face of the deities. Banaka Lagi ritual of the deities is performed by a particular class of servitor known as Datta Mahapatra.
