Puri: The Car Festival of 1902 was marred by several irregularities. Though the annual festival started on July 6, the Srimandir management had failed to conclude it till August 9.
Documents available at the 12th century shrine blamed callousness of the employees of Puri king and the British officials for the fiasco.
A huge crowd had gathered near the shrine to witness the Nabajouban Darshan ritual July 5. The British magistrate and police directed the Srimandir management to suspend the ritual to deal with the crowd.
The British administration had sealed three gates of the temple and deployed security personnel to disperse devotees. The administration had allowed a few servitors to enter Srimandir through the North Gate for performance of some routine rituals.
Even Suar and Mahasuar servitors were forced to sell Mahaprasad outside the temple. Taking advantage of the situation, some unscrupulous people cooked prasad at a nearby Shiv temple and sold it to devotees as Maha Prasad.
The royal employees and British officials failed to turn the three chariots towards Srimandir before the Bahuda Yatra which was scheduled for July 14. Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were kept at the Jagamohan of Srigundicha temple till July 27. Servitors could not perform the Chitalagi ritual, claim Srimandir documents.
Temple documents reveal that two of the wheels of Nandighosha were broken when royal employees tried to turn it towards Srimandir at Saradhabali. Carpenters took at least two days to repair the chariot.
Moreover, the wheels of Nandighosha got stuck in sand at Saradhabali while the chariot was being pulled towards Srimandir. The return journey of the deities was delayed by another three days as the rope of a chariot snapped midway. A few artisans were hired to prepare coir ropes for chariot pulling.
The then king had engaged at least 500 workers to pull the three chariots towards Srimandir.
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