Nabakalebara 2015: Idols of Deities replaced at Puri Temple

Amid unprecedented delay and anxiety among the devotees across the state and outside, the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, have been replaced with the new ones to mark Nabakalebara 2015. The festival is celebrated after a long gap of 19 years. The last Nabakalebara was held in 1996.

The secret rituals (Gupta Neeti) was performed by four servitors of the temple, which began in the wee hours today. The rituals were delayed till 4.15 AM until the servitors consecrated the entire temple premises.

Puri Gajapati Maharaja Divyasingh Dev had entered into the temple premises at 2.15 AM, returned at 2.45 AM after performing purnahuti at the yagna in Koili Baikuntha. All lights in and around the Puri temple were switched off at 3.15 AM. The ‘Brahma Parivartan’ was actually started at 1:10 PM and ended at 3:10 PM. After the secret rituals, the old idols of the deities were buried in a ritual, called ‘Patali’.

The ‘Brahma’ or ‘life substance’ were installed into the new idols to make the deities get a new lease of life after they embraced a temporary ‘death’. The new idols were made from holy Neem trees collected from Jagatsinghpur and Khurda districts.