JOIN USMore than 10 lakh devotees thronged the coastal temple town of Puri on Wednesday to take part in Jagannath Rath Yatra, known popularly as the Car Festival, which will continue for nine days.
The festival was flagged off in the morning hours with the traditional “Pahandi Bije” or shifting of the three presiding deities of the main Puri temple - Jagannath, Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra - from their podium known as “Ratna Singhasana” inside the sanctum sanctorum to the three well-decorated and colourful wooden “Raths” parked on “Bada Danda” - the Grand Road in front of the shrine.
A sea of devotees packed the spacious Grand Road as the three deities were brought to their respective chariots –Nandighosa for Jagannath, Taladhwaja for Balabhadra and Debadalana for Subhadra.
The shifting of deities was followed by other rituals, including the fabled “Chera Panhura”, the symbolic sweeping of the floors of the three chariots with a golden broom by the Gajapati Mharaja of Puri, Dibyasingha Dev, which denotes the equality of kings and commoners before god.
After the rituals were performed, the chariots began their three km long journey to the Sri Gundicha temple.
As the devotees and security personnels pulled the Raths, priests who sat on them chanted verses and rang the sacred bells called “ghantas”.
Even the monsoon rains that lashed the temple city had little impact on the festivities.
The three deities will have a week long sojourn at the Sri Gundicha temple, considered to be their birth place, before making their return journey to the main shrine. The return journey of the deities popularly known as “Bahuda Yatra” or return Car Festival will be celebrated on July 18.
The state government has made elaborate security arrangement for the smooth conduct of the festival.
As many as 110 platoons of armed police, two companies of Rapid Action Force (craft), four units of anti-terrorist squads, two thousand home guards and 550 officers, including entire top brass of the police establishment, and sniffer dogs were on duty to ensure law and order.
More than 35 CCTV cameras were planted along the route of the festival, much of them in Grand Road. The security arrangements will remain in place for the duration of the festival.
Puri temple servitor hurt
Brahmar Bhoi, a servitor of the Puri temple sustained serious injuries on Wednesday afternoon during the rath yatra festival in the Odisha temple town, reports DHNS from Bhubaneshwar.
Bhoi sustained injuries when he fell down from one of the three raths(chariots) that took part in the colorful festival.