PURI: High humidity notwithstanding, 12 lakh devotees thronged the Grand Road in the Pilgrim City of Puri since early morning on Sunday to watch the Rath Yatra (Car Festival) where Lord Jagannath accompanied by elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra set off on his annual sojourn to his aunt’s house on three majestic and richly decorated wooden chariots.Special rituals like Mangla arati and Mailam were held before the deities proceeded from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple after descending from the Ratna Sinhasan. The ceremonial Pahandi - carrying of deities from the temple to the chariots - began after a set of nitees and offering of Kichidi bhog. At first Sudarshan, the celestial wheel of Krishna-Vishnu, was taken out and placed in the chariot of Subhadra. Lord Jagannath was ensconced in ‘Nandighosha’ which has 16 wooden wheels. It was followed by the chariot of Balabhadra, the 14-wheeled 44-foot-high ‘Taladhwaja’ and lastly that of Subhadra, known as ‘Darpadalana’ with 12 wheels and standing 43 feet high. On Saturday night, the Daita servitors made the Chhenapatta (the body armour) of the deities. It is said that the Chhenapatta would absorb all physical strain of the deities during the Pahandi and chariot ride. The ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual was performed by Puri Gajapati Divyasingh Deb who arrived from his palace on a silver-plated palanquin. He offered prayers to the deities and then swept the platforms of the chariots with a golden broom. Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, the Sankaracharya of Goverdhan peeth came along with his disciples and worshipped the deities atop the chariots. Devotees performed the ‘Udanda Nritya’ to the beats of mridanga, cymbals and blowing of conch along the 3-km Grand Road. This year, pulling of the chariots began before schedule. As per the temple programme, pulling of the chariots was scheduled to begin at 3 pm. However, while Taladhwaja of Lord Balabhadra began rolling down the Grand Road at 2 pm, it was followed by Darpadalana at 2.45. Pulling of Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath began at 3 pm. The spectacular journey of the deities accompanied by lakhs of devotees ended as the chariots reached the Gundicha temple by evening. On their way to the temple, the Trinity were offered ‘Podo Pitha’ baked by their aunt. The deities would stay put on the three chariots and they will be taken inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Gundicha temple in Pahandi procession on Monday.Governor M C Bhandare, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Assam Governor J B Patnaik and his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Reeta Singh, local MP Pinaki Mishra, Panchayati Raj Minister Maheswar Mohanty, vice-chairperson of Planning Board S N Nayak and other dignitaries were present.
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