Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Miss the flag once—close the temple for 18 years. That’s the chilling belief that drives a death-defying ritual no one dares interrupt, despite storms, wars, or pandemics.
No harness. No ropes. Just faith and muscle. Every day, a priest scales a 215-foot dome like a human spider to change a flag—and one slip could be fatal.
Imagine risking your life daily for a ritual that’s never been skipped in 1,800 years. This isn’t tourism—it’s sacred pressure passed down through generations.
Engineers still marvel at how priests climb that smooth, sloped spire. No scaffolding, no gear—just barefoot steps on stone and centuries of muscle memory.
This isn’t just cloth. The daily flag is seen as a lifeline between Lord Jagannath and his devotees. Without it, blessings stop—and fear begins.
Cyclones have battered Puri, yet the climb never stops. Even during disasters, the ritual continues—protected by what some call divine will, others call obsession.
Why 18 years? No scriptures explain it, no historians confirm it. The number lives purely in belief, like a whispered warning no one wants to test.
Only a select few temple families are trained for the climb. This isn’t volunteer work—it’s a hereditary burden passed from father to son, with zero margin for error.
Through kings, colonizers, and COVID, the flag has flown daily. The uninterrupted record is a source of awe and anxiety, as no one wants to be the first to fail.