Puri Rath Yatra: Lord Jagannath & Siblings To Enter Shree Gundicha Temple Today

Puri: The sibling deities, who are atop their three chariots at Saradhabali, will be escorted to ‘Adapa Mandap’, also considered their birth place, at Shree Gudhicha Temple in Goti Pahandi by Daita servitors after ‘Sandhya Dhupa’ on Tuesday evening.

The ritual is known as ‘Adapa Mandap Bije’.

As per rituals, proxy divinities of Madan Mohana and Ramkrushna are carried into the temple first and kept in Dakshini Ghara, a special house on the temple premises. This is followed by Goti Pahandi of Chakraraj Sudarshan and Lord Balabhadra amid chanting of ‘Hari bol’ and blowing of conches and beating of cymbals. Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath are thereafter taken inside the shrine and seated on Ratna Simhasan from where they will give darshan to devotees from Wednesday.

The pilgrim town is expected to witness a huge influx of devotees for darshan of the deities at the Gundicha Temple and Adapa Abadha, the special prasad prepared during the Lords’ stay.

The deities of Shree Jagannath Temple had embarked on their 9-day annual sojourn on Sunday evening. Pulling of the three chariots resumed at 9.20 am on Monday after temple priests performed daily rituals like mangal alati, abakash, mailum and tadap lagi before offering gopal bhog to the deities on the chariots. Lord Balabhadra’s Taladhwaj was pulled from Marichikot Chowk along Bada Danda followed by Darpadalan of Devi Subhadra and Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath. The three chariots reached Gundicha Temple by 2.35 pm.

On the ninth day of the sojourn, the Lords will return to their abode in what is called ‘Bahuda Yatra’.

This year’s Rath Yatra was celebrated for two days, a rare occurrence after 53 years due to celestial arrangements, with three vital rituals – Netra Utsav and Nabajouban Besha being performed on the same day. Devotees were prohibited from darshan of the deities while the rituals were performed. The anasar period of the deities was also reduced to 13 days from the usual 15 as per the temple almanac.