The deities at the Puri Shree Jagannath Temple were adorned with gold jewellery on Wednesday and more than 10 lakh people turned up to witness the Suna Vesha (the golden attire) ceremony.

Lord Jagannath and his siblings were decked out in yellow metal from head to toe, with golden arms, palms and feet. The Suna Vesha ceremony was held in the backdrop of the opening of the Ratna Bhandar of the 12th-century shrine.

Nearly 138 kinds of gold ornaments including kiriti, sribhuja, sripahara, kundala, and four types of garlands namely baghamali, ghagra, mali and odiani were used to adorn the Trinity for their Suna Vesha. Although the original wooden idols of Lord Jagannath, brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra don’t have limbs, they were on Wednesday provided with huge golden limbs as well as enormous crowns. The gold items including jewellery had to be fetched from the sanctum sanctorum by around 25 bhandara mekapa servitors (storekeepers). The Suna Vesha began around 5pm and the deities would give darshan to the devotees only till late night.

Senior servitor Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra said: “All other Suna Vesha of the deities except this one take place inside the temple. This is grand. There is a special garland called Baghamali with which the deities are adorned with. It consists of rare ornaments.”

Another servitor Jagannath Swain Mohapatra said: “Suna Vesha started in 1460 AD when Gajapati Sri Kapilendradev of the Surya dynasty was the king of Kalinga, now known as Odisha.” Kapilendra Dev conquered Andhra Pradesh, major parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka to expand his kingdom. After winning over the entire Dakshinatya (southern kingdoms), he brought huge quantities of ornaments to his kingdom. These were brought in 16 chariots and offered to Lord Jagannath. “The king arrived in Kalinga the day after the bahuda yatra and ordered his priest to organise the Suna Vesha of the lord,” said Mohanty.

The state administration on Wednesday made elaborate arrangements for the devotees and deployed a huge police force for the smooth conduct of the event. “Today, I had a good darshan of the deities in Suna Vesha. During Suna Vesha, one gets to see the god as a human being with his hands and feet. I have never missed the Suna Vesha in the past 20 years,” said Prashant Mohanty, a retired government employee.

Director-general of police Arun Sarangi was seen monitoring the traffic movement from the control room.

In a related development, the committee formed under the chairmanship of former Orissa High Court judge Biswanath Rath decided to enter the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove) on Thursday.