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Keonjhar gears up to celebrate ‘Sunabesa’

KEONJHAR: At this tribal district headquarters excitement is palpable. People are waiting for the ‘sunebesa’ (attire of gold) of the deities on Sunday, a celestial show, which will be celebrated here after a span of 60 years.

While the annual religious ritual of sunabesa continues unabated in Puri, it has to be discontinued in Keonjhar for security reasons after the abolition of the royal rule in 1948 when the princely state of Keonjhar was merged into Orissa.

Thanks to the efforts of Soumendra Priyadarshi, the new Superintendent of Police , who had volunteered restart the tradition, which had also been a long waited dream of the people here.

“Elaborate security arrangements have been made to facilitate a comfortable darshan of the deities in their special attire. People will be able to witness it from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.”, assured the SP. But none would be allowed to ascend on the chariots except the sevayats, he revealed.

“ Of the deities ornaments only specially-designed kirita, kamarpatti and hara will be on display,” informed temple’s chief administrator and Keonjhar Sub-Collector Biranchi Nayak. “The Kings of Keonjhar regarded Lord Jagannath’s elder brother Lord Balabhadra, the presiding deity here (hence Baldevjew temple), as the supreme lord of their kingdom. Hence, as a symbol of respect and power, a specially designed gold sword was being kept beside Balabhadra during the sunabesa.

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