New Delhi: The annual Rath Yatra was celebrated at the Jagannath Temple in Hauz Khas Village of New Delhi amidst fanfare and spiritual fervour. The entire temple compound was elegantly decorated with colourful curtains, papers and lights befitting to the grand occasion.
Commencing from the wee hours, all the rituals were performed before the deities in a solemn atmosphere. At around 1.15 pm, the four deities were taken in dhadi pahandi procession to the colourfully decked up chariot stationed in front of the temple.
The entire atmosphere got reverberated with the recitals of hymns, sounds of Haribol and Jai Jagannath, Huluhuli, blowing of conch and playing of musical instruments such as ghanta, kartala, mardala, jhanja and mrudanga by the devotees.
Enthusiasm and excitement could be witnessed among the over one lakh strong Odia and non-Odia devotees gathered here along with their family members and relatives from Delhi and National Capital region to take part in the 47th car festival of the temple.
The Temple Management Committee ‘Neelachala Seva Sangha’ under the stewardship of secretary Ravindra Nath Pradhan did elaborate arrangements to maintain discipline and decorum during the occasion.
Chief Minister of Delhi Rekha Gupta undertook the traditional service of sweeping in front of the Chariot called ‘Chhera Pahanra’. Other Distinguished Dignitaries present during the occasion were MPs Bansuri Swaraj, Manoj Tiwari, MLAs Satish Upadhyaya, Anil Sharma, BJP Leaders Mridula Pradhan, Shailendra Singh Manti, Ravinder Choudhury and Former MLA Somnath Bharati. The Devotees demanded before the Guests to declare Rath Yatra day as a public holiday.
The chariot pulling commenced at around 2.30 pm. The 18 feet high majestic chariot carrying the deities on board was pulled from Hauz Khas Village Road for 2.5 to Ansari Nagar via Shri Aurobindo Marg and then taken back to temple premises in the evening.
The scenes of devotees on both sides of the yatra route to have a glimpse of the Lord of the Universe, were overwhelming. The acts of showering flowers at the Idols by bystanders and breaking of coconuts in the sidewall of chariot were just memorable and mesmerising. The idols were finally taken in a procession to the makeshift aunt house at the basement of the temple. The Trinity will be worshipped at the Adapa Mandap till the Bahuda Yatra on July 5.
