The Raths of Bhagwan Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, arrived at the ShriGundicha Temple amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’, ‘Hari Bolo’ by millions of devotees and the sound of conches and cymbals on Monday. The chariots have been parked at Saradha Bali in front of the temple.
The nine-day annual sojourn of the Lords, which began at 5 pm on Sunday, was halted after sunset as per the tradition. While Lord Balabhadra’s Chariot Taladhwaja halted at Marichikote Chhak, Darpadalana, the chariot of Devi Subhadra, stopped near Srikrishna Cinema Hall and Lord Jagannath’s chariot Nandighosa halted after rolling some distance from the Singhadwar. The pulling of Raths was resumed this morning.
There was no let up in the enthusiasm among the devotees as they thronged Puri to take part in the grand Rath Yatra festival. Since early morning today, devotees were seen having darshan of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra on their respective majestic chariots.
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The Taladhwaja rath of Bhagwan Balabhadra first arrived at Gundicha temple followed by the Darpadalana rath of Devi Subhadra. In the end, the Nandighosha rath of Bhagwan Jagannath reached the Mausima temple. All three raths are parked at Saradha Bali in front of Gundicha temple.
During the annual Rath Yatra, the three deities come out of the sanctum of the Jagannath temple through a ceremonial procession for the much-awaited journey to Gundicha temple. Typically, the Rath Yatra for Lord Jagannath is a one-day event, but 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.
Several dignitaries including President Droupadi Murmu, Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, Deputy CMs Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and former CM and leader of opposition Naveen Patnaik took part in the grand event of Bhagwab Jagannath . Elaborate arrangements including security have been made to conduct the annual festival peacefully and smoothly.
Rath Yatra is one of the main festivals of Odisha that commemorates the annual journey of Lord Jagannath and his siblings from the 12th century Jagannath temple to their aunt’s abode in Gundicha temple, 2.5 km away.
Rath Yatra is the only time when Lord Jagannath comes out of his holy abode to give darshan to people of all religions as only Hindus are allowed into the temple on regular days.
