Day after beginning of Rath Yatra in Puri, chariots of deities reach 'aunt's place'

Puri: The chariots of sibling deities - Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath - on Saturday reached the destination Gundicha Temple, a day after the Rath Yatra began in Puri.

Gundicha Temple is considered the aunt's place of the deities who go there every year after leaving the 12th-century Jagannath temple, situated at a distance of 2.6 km.

They will go back to the main temple after nine days. The return car journey, known as 'Bahuda Yatra', will held this year on 5 July.

Earlier in the day, amid chanting of “Jai Jagannath” & “Hari bol”, devotees resumed pulling the three chariots around 10 am, after the Rath Yatra was halted on June 27 night.

The chariots were scheduled to reach Gundicha temple by the evening of Friday. But they had to be stopped on Grand Road as Lord Balabhadra’s Taladwaja chariot got stuck while negotiating a turn, preventing the other two from advancing.

According to the tradition, ‘Taladwaj' rolls first, followed by 'Darpadalan' of Devi Subhadra and 'Nandighosh' of Lord Jagannath.

The chariots with deities inside were kept on the road overnight amid tight security.

Thousands of devotees who spent the night in the holy town, joined in large numbers in chariot pulling amid sounds of gongs and conches.

Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, DGP YB Khurania and other senior officials were found pulling Lord Jagannath’s 'Nandighosh'.

After the chariots reached their destination, they were parked outside the Gundicha temple.

The deities will be taken inside the temple on Sunday in a ceremonial procession.

"We thank all stakeholders including devotees for the conduct of Rath Yatra,” Arabinda Padhee, the chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said.

Meanwhile, all arrangements have been made for the security of the chariots and controlling the crowd, said DGP YB Khurania.

Meanwhile, over 600 devotees were treated at different hospitals in Puri after becoming ill during the Rath Yatra on Saturday.

While many of them were injured due to jostling, more than 200 people fainted in the hot and humid weather conditions.

An estimated one million devotees participated in the annual Rath Yatra on Friday and around 5 lakh people were in the holy town on Saturday, officials said adding that the weather was favourable on Saturday even though there was light rain.

The Rath Yatra is being held amid unprecedented security arrangements with the deployment of around 10,000 personnel of Odisha Police, the central armed police force, NSG and others.

The police have made all arrangements for the smooth conduct of Rath Yatra, a senior official said adding that over 275 AI-enabled CCTV cameras were installed to keep a watch on the crowd.