Banakalagi Ritual at Srimandir Today

Puri: Srimandira, the famous Lord Jagannath temple in Puri of Odisha will remain shut today for five hours for the Banakalagi ritual.

Today is Wednesday and the tithi is Baisakha Krushna Dasami. On this occasion, the Banakalagi Nithi will be performed in the temple. Therefore, public darshan will be closed for 5 hours.

After completion of the second Bhogamandap Bhog, the Banakalagi Niti will be executed in between 5 pm to 10 pm. During this time, the darshan of Mahaprabhu will be closed for devotees. This has been informed by the temple administration.

According to tradition, the Banakalagi ritual is executed either on Wednesdays or Thursdays. This is a secret ritual. This ritual is executed by closing all the doors of the temple after the Dwipahara Dhupa.

The Dattamahapatras climb to the Ratna Singhasana and do the Srimukha Sringar. This ritual takes about four hours to complete. During this time all the doors of the temple remain completely closed. The sringar (makeup) done on the face of the three deities is called ‘Banakalagi’ in the temple language.

There is a special servitor group for this ritual. They are called Datta Mahapatra. Their job is to prepare the color for the srimukh Sringar and put it on the face of the deities. Along with dyes, expensive perfumes such as musk and kesar (saffron) are also used. The dyes available in the market are not used in the temple.

There is a room on the north side of the inner circumference (Bhitara Bedha) for preparing the special colors for the deities. It is called Banakalagi house. The shell is crushed to make white, yellow is made from Haritala, and black colour is made out of Hingula. Camphor and saffron are added to these colors. Thanks to saffron, the face of the deities remains bright and smooth.