Puri: The annual car festival of Lord Jagannath and his siblings scheduled for June 23 in Puri will most likely be observed without the presence of devotees for the first time in history owing to coronavirus outbreak.
According to Srimandir senior servitor Binayak Das Mohapatra, the annual Chandan Jatra of Lord Jagannath will be held April 26 at Narendra Pokhari (pond) without participation of devotees.
Meanwhile, the ‘Ratha Anukula’ ceremony for the car festival was observed January 30 following which the forest department has supplied the temple administration with required number of logs for construction of chariots.
The sizing of the logs started April 2 on occasion of Ram Navami, and construction would commence from Akshyay Tritiya which falls April 26. The 21-day festival of Chandan Jatra of the Trinity, which begins on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, will be conducted with all the rituals as per the tradition sans participation of devotees, a temple official said.
That said, the servitors are far from giving up hope. “If any miracle happens by the grace of the ‘Lord of the Universe’ and the coronavirus is defeated, the car festival will be held in presence of his devotees as it has always been the case,” Das Mohapatra added.
PNN
