No Rath Yatra in Simdega for second consecutive year

Gumla: Simdega district, which shares borders with Odisha and has the oldest history of Rath Yatra in Jharkhand dating back to the 14th century, did not celebrate the festival for the second consecutive year on Monday because of the restrictions put in place to control Covid-19.
In the 14th century, a descendant of the Puri king shifted to Bolwa and later his sons settled at Udte Keshalpur and finally at Birugarh in Simdega which shares the boundary with Odisha.
“It is the second consecutive year when the Rath Yatra couldn’t be held in Simdega. Only prayer was offered by temple priests," said one of the members of the Birugarh princely family.
He said Hathanbar Dev, a descendant of Puri king Kapilendra Dev Maharaj, had settled in Bhambhalpur and his son Kalbhanjan Dev came down to this area and made his seat first at Bolwa in Simdega, where the first of Rath Yatras took place in the state.
Durgavijay Singh Dev, a prince of the Birugarh royal family, said, “Kalbhanjan Dev, son of Hathanbar Singh Dev, travelled down to Bolwa. He was given territory in the Simdega area by Ratu Maharaj, who was the ruler of the Chhotanagpur region, for a big diamond. It was Hathabar who first got Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath organised at Bolwa in 1326." Since then, all his descendants were following this tradition, he said, adding that the tradition of conducting the Yatra spread to other places of Simdega thereafter.
Durgavijay also said the Gajpati royal family had several princes who went to different places to find their kingdoms in different parts of the country. “Wherever they went, they carried with them the idols of Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabadhra and conducted Rath Yatras and built temples for Lord Jagannath,” he said.
Another member of the royal family, Kaushal Singh, said, “on Monday, priests performed rituals observing social distancing and statues of deities were carried to Mausibadi by hand."
In adjoining Gumla, the Rath Yatra is also an old tradition. In 1761, a temple of Lord Jagannath was built at Nagfeni on the bank of river Koel south in Gumla. This year, the temple premises looked deserted because of the Covid curbs.