Lakhs of devotees witness Lord Jagannath’s ‘Bahuda Yatra’

Puri:22/7/18: Braving intermittent rain, lakhs of devotees from across the country and abroad today thronged at the grand road at Puri to witness Lord Jagannath’s ‘Bahuda Yatra’ (return car festival).

A multi-layer security net was thrown in the town with heavy deployment of forces to ensure smooth celebrations and prevent any untoward incident, a senior police official said.

The divine siblings were taken to their chariots in an elaborate ritual called ‘Pahandi’ to the beating of gongs, cymbals and blowing of conch shells. Lord Jagannath was ensconced in the largest of the three chariots – the 45 feet-high ‘Nandighosh’,  Balabhadra in his 44 feet-high ‘Taladhwaja’ and Subhadra in her 43 feet-high ‘Darpadalan’.

Gajapati King of Puri Divya Singha Deb performed the ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual. He offered prayers to the deities and then swept the platforms of the chariots with a golden broom and sprinkled flowers and fragrant water.

The deities, who had embarked on a nine-day sojourn to the Gundicha Temple during Rath Yatra, would finally re-enter the 12th century shrine and again be placed on the ‘Ratna Simhasana’, the bejewelled throne, following a ceremony called ‘Neeladribije’.

Ahead of ‘Neeladribije’, the deities would be decorated with ‘suna besha’ or golden attire on Monday on their chariots, which traditionally attracts a large number of devotees from all over.