Samikhsya Bureau
Rath Yatra, the nine-day sojourn of the presiding deities of the Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri began on Thursday amidst tight security cover even as around eight lakhs of devotees from across the country congregated at this pilgrim city to witness the event.
Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra, left their original abode and went to the Gundicha Temple, on their respective decorated chariots on the 3 km long Bada Danda (grand road) as chants of ‘Haribol’ and clanging of cymbals rented the air. The trinity reached their destination, the Gundicha temple, the lord’s aunt place before the sunset.
Earlier in the day, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were offered ‘Gopal Bhog’ (breakfast) after necessary rituals before being taken out from the ‘Ratnavedi’ of the sanctum sanctorum in a ceremonial ‘Pahandi Bije’ to their respective well-decorated chariots parked outside the temple.
About forty truckloads of flowers were used to decorate all four gates, Jagamohan, Bhogmandop and Natmandop of the main temple beside the three chariots while the entire complex of Gundicha Temple was also decorated with flowers.
The temple servitors took the deities on their shoulders from the temple amidst blowing of conch shells through Ananda Bazar and the ‘Baishi Pahacha’ to the Lions Gate under tight security.
The chariots — the red and yellow ‘Nandighosha’ of Lord Jagannath with 16 wheels, red and green ‘Taladhwaja’ of Balabhadra with 14 wheels and red and black ‘Devadalana’ of Devi Subhadra with 12 wheels — were lined up outside the temple near the Lions Gate.
As per rituals, Lord Balabhadra was first taken out of the ‘Ratna Vedi’ and installed in Taladhawaja through the ceremonial ‘Pahandi Bije’, followed by Devi Subhadra in Darpadalan and Lord Jagannath installed in Nandighosh.
The devotees broke into frenzied shouts of ‘Haribol’ and ‘Jai Jagannath’ as soon as they witnessed the deities coming out of the temple to board the chariots to begin their nine-day sojourn to the Gundicha Temple, their aunt’s abode.
Devotees waiting for hours to have glimpse of the Pahandi Bije were in trance as soon as the Lord of the Universe Jagannath came galloping out of the Simhadwar swinging his giant floral tiara to the tunes of the musical concerts of cymbal, ‘ghantas’ and bugle performed by the servitors.
Odissi dancers and martial artists led the Pahandi procession as other religious hymns rented the atmosphere. Devotees were seen jostling among themselves to witness the Pahandi.
Odisha governor Geneshi Lal, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Odisha assembly speaker S.N. Patro, ministers Naba Kishore Das, Sameer Ranjan Dash, Arun Sahu, Pratap Jena and Capt. Divya Shankar Mishra pulled the chariots. State chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, director general of police R.P. Sharma were also present in Puri to oversee the arrangements.
According to officials, the Odisha government deployed over 10,000 security personnel for the smooth functioning of the Rath Yatra. They included around 1,000 officers of various ranks of Odisha Police, 2,500 home guards, three companies each of Rapid Action Force and Odisha Swift Action Force and a bomb disposal squad along with a sniffer dog. Over 250 CCTV cameras were installed in the city to monitor the pilgrim crowd movement.
Two units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force and a unit of National Disaster Response Force were also deployed for disaster mitigation, officials said.
The Indian Navy and Coast Guard too patrolled the coast during the festival.
