Puri: The Holy Trinity (Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra) along with Lord Sudarshan of Puri Srimandir will adorn a new look after a special make-up ritual today known as the ‘Banaka Lagi’.
Following the ritual, the general darshan of the deities will be restricted for about four hours from 4 pm to 8 pm, informed temple administration sources.
According to sources, Banaka Lagi is performed by a particular class of servitor called Datta Mahapatra. Datta Mohapatra servitors will perform the secret ritual, the traditional ‘shringar’ of the deities at the 12th century shrine.
The formal procedure will be performed on the second Bhoga Mandap behind the Garuda pillar of Jagamohan.
As per tradition, the ‘shringar’ rituals of the sibling dieties are generally held seven to eight times a year starting with the one after the Niladri Bije ritual following Rath Yatra.
According to culture expert Surya Narayan Ratha Sharma, Banaka Lagi derives its name from ‘Bana’ means forest and ‘Lagi’ means apply. Certain rare forest products used to prepare four types of colours- such as haritala (red), hengula (yellow), sankha (white) and black are applied on the face the dieties. The secret ritual takes a few hours of judicious painting.
