Puri: The majestic 45-feet tall wooden chariots of the sibling deities of Shree Jagannath Temple, pulled by thousands of devotees, reached their destination at Shree Gundicha Temple on Monday.
The nine-day annual sojourn of the Lords, which began at 5 pm on Sunday, was halted after sunset as per the tradition on the Grand Road which connects the temple to the 12th century shrine. The pulling of chariots was resumed this morning. Lord Balabhadra atop Taladwaja arrived at Sharadhabali around 1 pm, followed by Devi Subhadra’s Darpadalana and Lord Jagannath’s Nandighosh around 2.35 pm.
The rituals atop the chariots would commence shortly before servitors escort the deities to the temple for a week’s stay. Following which, the Lords will give darshan to devotees on Adapa Mandap till their return journey to their adobe.
This year, Rath Yatra was a two-day unique affair with three rituals – Netra Utsav, Nabajaubana Darshan and Rath Yatra – held on the same day. A similar celestial arrangement had occurred 53 years ago, in 1971.
On Sunday, President Droupadi Mumu, Governor Raghubar Das, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan symbolically started the mammoth exercise by pulling the ropes after wooden horses were fitted to the chariots. Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik also had a ‘darshan’ of the sibling deities.
Rath Yatra is the only time when Lord Jagannath comes out of his holy abode to give darshan to people of all religion as only Hindus are allowed into the temple on regular days.
