Odisha: Handful of servitors to be allowed on chariots

BHUBANESWAR: Only a few duty-bound servitors will be allowed to stay on the chariots for the devotees to have a clear glimpse of the deities and to prevent a stampede-like situation on the occasion of Rath Yatra on Friday.
“We have asked the temple officers and Daitapati servitors to identify unauthorised persons on the chariots and immediately evict them from there. Our aim is to ensure that the chariots are less crowded. The duty-bound servitors have been requested not to stand in front of the deities. We want the devotees to have a clear and unobstructed view of the deities on the chariots,” Puri district collector Samarth Verma said.
According to the SOP, altogether 74 people (60 servitors and temple staff, and 14 ghantuas who beat gongs and cymbals) would be present on the Taladhwaja chariot of God Balabhadra. Goddess Subhadra’s Darpadalana chariot will have a total of 62 people (50 servitors and temple staff, and 12 ghantuas) and Lord Jagannath’s Nandighosh chariot will have a total of 86 people (16 ghantuas, and 70 servitors and temple staff).
Three teams, consisting of senior district officials and police personnel, have been formed to ensure that unwanted priests and people in the guise of priests stay away from the chariots. Each chariot will remain in the custody of a caretaker (badagrahi daitapati servitor). Ideally, the role of a badagrahi is to maintain decorum and discipline on the chariot. He should identify the priests or persons, who have no service on the chariots and subsequently ask the police to remove them from there.
In the past, devotees have often failed to get a clear view of the deities atop the chariots owing to the presence of a large number of servitors around the idols. This triggered resentment among the devotees and sparked stampede-like situations on the Grand Road, where the chariots rolled on amid chants and cheers of millions of people. Like the previous years, photography and videography on the chariots are strictly prohibited.