Puri: More than a million devotees are in the holy town of Puri to witness the annual car festival of Lord Jagannath. The temple has been decked up and rituals are going on smoothly amidst a pleasant weather Thursday.
The first major ritual of the day known as ‘dhadi pahandi’ or ‘pahandi bije’ was witnessed by hundreds of thousands devotees in a spiritually charged atmosphere here in the morning.
At the pre-decided time, Lord Sudarshan was first taken out in pahandi, followed by Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
The deities were placed atop their chariots parked on the grand road, facing towards Gundicha temple. Later, Madanmohan, a representative Lord Jagannath was placed on his Nandighosh chariot at about 12:30pm.
The Chhera Panhara ritual, one of the major rituals performed during car festival, wherein Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb sweeps the floor of all the three chariots with a golden broom was completed by 2:30pm after which the chariot pulling started.
Ecstatic devotees could be seen singing, dancing and waiting in expectation to pull the chariots all along the grand road here.
The temple administration and state government are working in tandem to ensure a smooth festival. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has made it a priority to ensure timely completion of rituals and has sensitised the servitors on this context.
The state government, meanwhile, has taken a number of steps to ensure that security, traffic and healthcare systems are in place in the town to meet the challenges.
Additional forces and doctors have been pressed into service in the town to ensure a smooth festival. Meanwhile, elaborate transportation and traffic arrangements have also been made. Special trains, buses have been deployed to ferry passengers from across the state and beyond.
