Samikhsya Bureau
Puri: Lakhs of devotees have thronged this pilgrim city to observe the month-long Kartika brata which began from Sunday. The devotees mostly old and widows used to rise early in the morning and take a bath in one of the holy ponds and rush to Jagannath temple to witness Mangal arati of Lord Jagannath. They spend most of their time in listening to Kartika mahatmya a religious text.
The devotees take one vegetarian meal a day (most of them depend on mahaprasad) and worship the holy Basil tree as the image of the lord. Almost all the families house their relatives who come from far-flung areas to observe the brata. The temple administration had rescheduled the daily nitees and rituals of the deities to facilitate more devotees to have darshan of the deities. This apart about three thousand devotees were observing the brata in government facilities at government expense. The administration accommodated them in three places.
The tourist department is conducting its affairs. The administration provides them mahaprasad at their shelters while they were given to and fro free transport facility from their place to the Sri Jagannath temple where they spend almost the day worshipping the lord Jagannath. Several priests were deployed to conduct religious discourses in their shelters in the evening. A good number of Tulsi trees were installed at shelters where devotees offer prayers while arrangements were made for the observance of Mahadip.
Lifeguards and fire tender personnel were deployed at the holy water bodies to prevent drowning and teams of medicos and support staff were looking after their health. The adequate number of police personnel were placed on duty at these shelters while five nodal officers were placed in charge of supervising the process. Huge quantities of Mahaprasad being cooked and special bhogs (offerings)were made to provide mahaprasad daily to a large number of devotees around the month.
The last five days of the month would draw more devotees who usually visit Puri the abode of Lord Jagannath to observe Panchuka (last five days of brata) considered as holiest days of the month. In these five days lords used to take five different new Veshas on each day. The brata would conclude on the kartik purnima day with devotees observing the holy bath in Pancha teerth and having darshan of Lord Jagannath.
