Lakhs Witness Ceremonial Bath of Deities in Jagannath Temple in Odisha Friday June 13,2014

At least three lakh devotees on Friday June 13,2014 witnessed the annual ceremonial bath of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra in Odisha's temple town of Puri, braving the heat and humidity.

The deities were taken out of the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century Jagannath temple in the beach town, about 56 km from here, in a ceremonial procession to the snana mandap - a 30 feet high pavilion inside the temple complex - around 7 a.m.

"The bathing of the deities started at 1.50 p.m. and ended within an hour," Laxmidhar Pujapanda, the temple's public relations officer, told

The festival, which is known as 'Snana Yatra', involves bathing of the deities with 108 pitchers of perfumed water drawn from a temple well.

It takes place ahead of the annual chariot festival or Ratha Yatra, which is the grand culmination of a series of celebrations involving the deities. This year the festival will be held June 29.

The festival marks the annual journey of the 3 deities from the temple in3 separate decorated wooden chariots to another temple about two km away. Thousands of devotees pull the chariots with the help of ropes.

The deities return to their abode in the same way. The return journey of the deities is known as 'Bahuda Yatra', which will be held July 07,2014