Historic Jagannath Rath Yatra begins in Puri

PURI:

THE historic Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath commenced on Tuesday in this pilgrim town without the usual sea of devotees and amid tight security in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court modified its earlier order to clear the decks for the annual ritual. In order to prevent any congregation, a curfew-like shutdown has been imposed across Puri district from 9 pm on Monday till 2 pm on Wednesday, DGP Abhay said.

Over 50 platoons of police force (one platoon has 30 personnel) have been deployed and CCTVs installed at various locations as part of the security arrangement for the nine-day festival, officials said, adding, all entry points to Puri were sealed. Priests and police personnel, who were part of the chariot pulling ritual, underwent mandatory COVID-19 testing on Monday night and only those whose reports came out negative were allowed to participate in the festival, they said.

A number of customary rituals like ‘Mangla Arati’ and ‘Mailam’ were held before the presiding deities — Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra — set out from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Descending from the ‘Ratna Sinhasana,’ the bejeweled throne, the three deities were taken out of the temple down the 22 steps known as ‘Baisi Pahacha’ through the Lion’s Gate in an elaborate royal ritual called ‘Pahandi.’ In a rhythmic style, the deities moved forward step by step amid blowing of conch shells and ringing of bells. At first Sudarshana, the celestial wheel of Krishna-Vishnu, was taken out and placed in the chariot of Devi Subhadra followed by Lord Balabhadra, Subhadra and finally Lord Jagannath.