Puri: Soon after the holy bathing ritual in the afternoon hours on the ceremonial holy bathing altar, the deities gave ‘darshan’ (divine glimpse) of ‘Gaja or Hati Besha’ to the devotees in which elder brother Lord Balabhadra and younger sibling Lord Jagannath bore the head of elephant replicating Lord Ganesha (God of Wisdom & Protection).
Devotees in a large number thronged the pilgrim city here in Odisha to have a glimpse of the rare and mesmerizing ‘Hati Besha’ of Holy Trinity (Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra) along with Lord Sudarshan on the ‘Snana Mandap’ (holy bathing altar) at Sri Mandir (Jagannath temple) here today.
The annual bathing rituals of the ‘Chaturdha Murti’ (quaternity)–Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Sudarshana were carried out in Puri amid a large number of devotees.
The ritual marks the beginning of the annual world-famous Rath Yatra festival.
The servitors bathed the deities with 108 pitchers of water drawn from a well called the ‘Suna Kua’ at Srimandir premises.
The elegant elephant attire and the special costumes of the auspicious occasion are traditionally prepared by the artisans at Raghaba Das Mutt and Gopal Tirtha Mutt.
Behind this special ‘Gaja’ or ‘Hati Besha’ there is an anecdote.
Researchers mention that this unique darshan was given to one Pandit Ganapati Bhatt of Maharashtra’s Mahaganapatya community in the 15th century. Bhatt was an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha and had visited the age-old shrine in Puri to have darshan of Lord Jagannath. On this Snana Purnima day, he witnessed ‘Chaturdha Murti’ (four idols) on Snana Mandap, but got disenchanted as he had wished to witness his presiding deity Lord Ganesha within Lord Jagannath.
However, Lord Jagannath believed to have disguised as a ‘sebayat’ (temple servitor) and insisted Pandit Bhatt to return to Sri Mandir. He got overwhelmed to have the cherished darshan of Lord Ganesha on the same Snana Mandap. Thenceforth, the deities are being decked up in the enchanting ‘Gajanan Besha’ or ‘Gaja Besha’ or ‘Hati Besha’ every year on the sacred occasion.
