Puri: The pilgrimage town is prepared for the annual journey of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, with only few hours left for commencement of this much awaited sojourn.
Pilgrims from far and wide are waiting eagerly at Badadanda for the moment when their Lord of hearts Lord Jagannath alongwith His brother Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra will descend from the temple and give them an opportunity to have a darshan from their respective chariots.
For the journey, the chariots, all decked up with resplending clothes and other motifs and ornamental designs, were drawn from the construction site and parked in front of Singhadwara.
Saturday morning, priests performed yajna for purification of the chariots before the deities board them. Prior to the pahandi ritual, the specific rituals of the deities like Mnagal Alati, Mailam, Vesha, Rosha homa, Sutya Puja, Gopal Bhoga, Khichidi Bhoga were performed.
After the ceremonial pahandi when the deities are installed in seats in their respective chariots, Gajapati Dibyasingh Dev will perform Chhera Panhara at 2 PM. Then sankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth Swami Neeschalananda Saraswati will offer prayer on the chariots. Thereafter the wooden horses will be fixed before allowing devotees to pull the cahariots down the grand raod to the aunt’s of the Lords.
Ample arrangements have been made keeping the congregartion of about 10 lakh devotees in this pilgrimage town in mind.
140 platoons of armed police personnel, three companies of Rapid Action Force, 10 platoons of Special Operations Group (SOG), hundreds of Life Guards and Home Guards have been pressing into service. The town has been put under special survellience of CCTV cameras. Naval and Coast Gurads are patrolling along the Puri coast.
Besides, adequate measures have been taken for uninterrupted power and water supply, for immediate medical attention to devotees, if they fall ill during the festival.
