The fun time of the deities of Puri Jagannath temple started as a sea of humanity turned up to watch the Lord’s nine-day sojourn, popularly dubbed as Rath Yatra on Wednesday.
The Grand Road facing the 12th century shrine was packed like sardines with the curious devotees braving the scorching sun waited with bated breaths for glimpse of the deities on their respective chariots. Crowd jostled for space when the triad Hindu deities—Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra—were escorted out of the sanctum sanctorum in a boisterous procession called pahandi.
The pahandi rituals of the deities were solemnized in the scheduled time. By 10.30 am, the sibling deities boarded their respective chariots. Puri Sankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati had the darshan of the deities on chariots.
Puri scion Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb later performed the traditional sweeping rite of the chariot decks with golden broomstick, a ritual known as chheran pahanra. Soon after the King’s business got over on the chariots, the giant wooden cars marched towards the Gundicha temple where the deities would spend nearly a week. Devotees and cops pulled the chariots with gung-ho spirit. It was a treat to watch the chariots festooned with flowers, appliqué and mural paintings. Till reports last reached, the chariot of Lord Balabhadra reached Gundicha temple at around 4.45pm. And chariots of Subhadra and Jagannath were a stone's throw from the destination.
Unlike the previous years, all the rituals of the deities, including the pulling of chariots were solemnized much before the schedule time. “It was possible thanks to the cooperation of shrine sevayats. They always play a major role in the timely completion of rituals,” a temple official said.
The temple town was fortified in the wake of possible subversive attacks by radicals. “But no untoward incident was reported till evening,” a senior police official said.
More than 55 platoons of police force were garrisoned through out the city to control law and order during the mega event. Massive security arrangement was made for crowd and traffic control as well. “Keeping last year’s stampede in mind, we are cautious to avoid the recurrence of the mishap,” the cop said.
Governor MC Bhandare, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, revenue minister Prafulla Ghadei among a host of other ministers visited Puri to watch Rath Yatra.
The Grand Road facing the 12th century shrine was packed like sardines with the curious devotees braving the scorching sun waited with bated breaths for glimpse of the deities on their respective chariots. Crowd jostled for space when the triad Hindu deities—Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra—were escorted out of the sanctum sanctorum in a boisterous procession called pahandi.
The pahandi rituals of the deities were solemnized in the scheduled time. By 10.30 am, the sibling deities boarded their respective chariots. Puri Sankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati had the darshan of the deities on chariots.
Puri scion Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb later performed the traditional sweeping rite of the chariot decks with golden broomstick, a ritual known as chheran pahanra. Soon after the King’s business got over on the chariots, the giant wooden cars marched towards the Gundicha temple where the deities would spend nearly a week. Devotees and cops pulled the chariots with gung-ho spirit. It was a treat to watch the chariots festooned with flowers, appliqué and mural paintings. Till reports last reached, the chariot of Lord Balabhadra reached Gundicha temple at around 4.45pm. And chariots of Subhadra and Jagannath were a stone's throw from the destination.
Unlike the previous years, all the rituals of the deities, including the pulling of chariots were solemnized much before the schedule time. “It was possible thanks to the cooperation of shrine sevayats. They always play a major role in the timely completion of rituals,” a temple official said.
The temple town was fortified in the wake of possible subversive attacks by radicals. “But no untoward incident was reported till evening,” a senior police official said.
More than 55 platoons of police force were garrisoned through out the city to control law and order during the mega event. Massive security arrangement was made for crowd and traffic control as well. “Keeping last year’s stampede in mind, we are cautious to avoid the recurrence of the mishap,” the cop said.
Governor MC Bhandare, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, revenue minister Prafulla Ghadei among a host of other ministers visited Puri to watch Rath Yatra.
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