Bengaluru: Rath Yatra in Bengaluru began in the early hours of Monday with Mangala Arti, Abakash, Mailan, Worshipping Sun, Worshipping Gatekeepers and SahanaMela at the Jagnnath temple at Agara.
The celebration was restricted to the temple premises in view of the COVID pandemic and held with strict adherence to the guidelines.
The temple administration had, however, arranged for live streaming of the festival on their Facebook page.
The Pahandi bije ritual of all deities was conducted between 1 pm to 2 pm. Lord Balabhadra Devi Subhadra, Lord Jagannath and Lord Sudarshan were taken in a procession from the Anasara room on the upper floor to the Hall on the ground floor amid beats of Ghanta, Kartal, Mrudanga, Jhanja and chanting of ‘Jai Jagannath’ by the servitors.
Trustee of the temple trust Chakradhar Swain performed the Chhera Pahanra.
In pursuance of the new guidelines issued by the Karnataka government, the devotees were allowed to witness the Sahana Mela ritual in the morning and again in the evening.
“The deities will remain on the ground floor of the temple till Niladri Bije,” informed Managing Trustee and renowned Neurosurgeon Dr Pratap Pani.
The trustees who played a vital role in organising this year’s Rath Yatra include Managing Trustee Dr. Pratap Pani, Nihar Samantara, N.R.B. Patnaik, Hara Prasad Mohapatra, Satikanta Sarangi, Chakradhar Swain, Prakash Samantara, J P Udgata, Kamakhya Panda, Punyasloka Khuntia, Manoj Mahapatra, Niranjan Sahoo and Manoj Patra.
