Puri Bahuda Yatra smooth, chariots reach Jagannath Temple

Bhubaneswar: Drawing the curtain on the state’s most-awaited festival, the Rath Yatra, the deities of the Jagannath Temple in Puri ended their week-long stay at their birthplace — the Gundicha Temple — and started their homeward journey towards the 12th century shrine on a rainy Tuesday, marking Bahuda Yatra.
The trinity was brought out of the Gundicha in a ceremonial Pahandi procession amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’, ‘Hari Bolo’ and blowing of conches and beating of cymbals by hundreds of sevayats. However, unlike the previous years before Covid struck in 2020, the sea of humanity that used to turn up to bid a tearful adieu to the deities was missing.
Lord Sudarsan was the first to be brought out of the Gundicha temple onto the chariot followed by Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and finally Lord Jagannath.
This was followed by Chhera Panhara or sweeping the deities’ chariots by Gajapati Maharaj of Puri, Dibyasingha Deb. Sixty-seven-year-old Deb has been performing this duty for 50 long years.
Following this, the servitors started pulling the chariots around 12.20pm. On the way, the sibling deities halted at the Mausi Maa Temple on the Grand Road where ‘poda pitha’ made of flour, jaggery and grated coconut was offered to them.
Before reaching the Srimandir, Lord Jagannath’s chariot was also stopped in front of the palace of the Gajapati Maharaja, where a ritual namely ‘Lakshmi-Narayana Bheta’ was performed.
First Taladhwaja, the chariot of Lord Balabhadra reached Singhadwara followed by Subhadra’s Darpadalana and then, Nandighosha Ratha, the chariot of Lord Jagannath.
In the absence of devotees, the chariots rolled down the Jagannath Temple amid quietness. Like the Rath Yatra on July 12, the state government imposed curfew in Puri to prevent gatherings.
Taking a leaf out of Rath Yatra, the government scripted yet another success story by smoothly conducting the Bahuda through strict compliance with the Covid restrictions. There were no immediate reports or instances of any curfew violations during the festival.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik praised the Puri district administration, the police and the Shree Jagannath Temple administration officials and the servitors for the successful conduct of Bahuda and the Rath Yatra.
The cooperation of everyone and compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions resulted in the smooth end of the nine-day festival. Residents of Puri once again showed self-restraint and discipline during the Covid crisis. The information and public relations department nicely arranged for the live telecast of the Rath Yatra and Bahuda to ensure that the devotees could watch the festival on the TV screens, Naveen’s message released by the CMO’s office said.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration appreciated the servitors for the timely conduct of the rituals. “The sevaks (servitors) showed commitment and completed the rituals two or three hours before the schedule. All the participants (servitors, temple staff and district officials) had tested negative for Covid-19,” SJTA’s chief administrator Krishan Kumar said.
Puri police denied reports of any untoward incident. “The residents of Puri fully cooperated with us. They complied with the curfew and Covid safety rules and stayed in their homes,” Puri SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said. The police installed barricades around the chariots to keep devotees at bay. The deities would don gold ornaments on their chariots on the occasion of Suna Besha on Wednesday.