Devotees throng to take part in Bahuda Yatra

BHUBANESWAR: Devotees from across the Capital city poured on to the streets on Monday to take part in the Bahuda Yatra marking the end of the annual sojourn of Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra at their Aunt’s place. Many danced during the pulling of colourfully decorated chariots to the beats of cymbals and drums.   Special celebrations were organised to welcome the deities back at the historic Patia Garh temple where Rath Yatra was celebrated for the second time this year after 78 years with splendour. “The Patia Garh celebration was stopped following the death of the local zamindar. The Rath Yatra and all other related rituals were restricted to taking the Trinity to the nearby Chandana Ghar, in a symbolic act. However, the managing trustee of the temple Adwaitya Champati took the initiative to revive the festival,” said local resident Ashwini Malaya. Around 10,000 devotees were present at the festival and the rituals started early in the morning. Residents of Patiam village and nearby localities thronged the venue.  Niladri Vihar, Sailashree Vihar, Vani Vihar, Unit VIII area and VSS Nagar observed a number of single chariots for the deities that were pulled back to their respective temples.AT ISKCON: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) celebrations too saw large gatherings. More than 15,000 devotees thronged to witness the Bahuda Yatra organised by Iskcon. The chariots with the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra began their journey from the Unit VIII temple and returned to the Iskcon temple in a colourful procession.  Iskcon members on the chariots distributed prasad packets among the devotees on the road. At Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), the idols were boarded on three chariots and pulled back to the Jagannath Temple at Kalinga Institute for Social Sciences (KISS) from the Gundicha temple near the DAV School, Unit VIII. A number of tribal students and people from nearby villages participated.   Almost all the temples that observed the Bahuda Yatra had arranged bhajan and kirtan programmes, while the deities were on the chariots.