Rath Yatra LIVE | Puri chariot-pulling resumes; 1 dead during Sunday festivities

Thousands of people pulled forward giant chariots from the 12^th-century Jagannath temple in Puri towards Gundicha temple, around 2.5 km away, on Sunday afternoon.

The chariot pulling started around 5.20 pm after Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalanada Saraswati visited the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra with his disciples and the Puri’s titular king completed the Chhera Pahanra (chariot sweeping) ritual.

The wooden horses were fitted to the chariots and the servitor pilots guided the devotees to pull the chariots in the right direction.

President Droupadi Murmu performed a “parikrama” of the three chariots and bowed down before the deities.

The President, Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan symbolically started the mammoth exercise by pulling the ropes connecting the principal Jagannath chariot. Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik also had a “darshan” of the sibling deities.

Thousands of people pulled the nearly 45-feet tall wooden chariot of Lord Balabhadra. It will be followed by pulling of chariots of Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.

Rhythmically beating brass cymbals and hand drums, priests surrounded the gods on the canopied chariots as the procession made its slow way through the main street of the temple town.

The air rented with “Jai Jagannath” and “Haribol” as frenzied devotees tried to get a glimpse of the holy procession.

Different groups performed “kirtans” (religious songs) and Odissi dance in front of the chariots before the procession started.

Around a million devotees are estimated to have converged on this town for the annual car festival. While most of the devotees were from Odisha and the neighbouring states, many from abroad also joined in what is considered one of the largest religious processions globally.

Chhattisgarh’s capital city Raipur on Sunday witnessed the grand celebration of the Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra, marked by traditional fervour and chariot procession.

The raths (chariots) of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra, and their sister Subhadra were pulled by devotees in Raipur’s Gayatri Nagar area, similar to the tradition followed in Odisha.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai joined the Yatra at the temple in Gayatri Nagar. The event commenced with the ceremonial Cherapahara ritual, where the deity’s idol was brought to the chariot, and the path was swept with a golden broom by the chief minister himself.

Following this, Sai carried the idol of Lord Jagannath to the chariot.

The ceremony featured customary rituals and special prayers to Lord Jagannath and his siblings, Balabhadra and Subhadra.

It is believed that Lord Jagannath’s original abode was Shivrinarayan in Chhattisgarh, from where He later moved to Jagannath Puri. Shivrinarayan also holds historical significance as the place where Lord Shri Ram tasted the sweet berries offered by Mata Shabari during the Treta Yuga. The temple of Nar-Narayan now stands at this location.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday pulled ropes of the chariot at ISKCON Rath Yatra in Kolkata after paying obeisance to Lord Jagannath.

Braving rains, thousands of devotees gathered to participate in the festival and they danced and chanted “Jai Jagannath” along with the monks of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

“Jai Jagannath to all of you throughout the world, all my ISKCON brothers and sisters and devotees on this auspicious day,” she said.

Banerjee performed arati with candles and offered prayers to the deities of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra on the chariot in front of the ISKCON temple, before pulling the ropes of the chariot at the start of the Rath Yatra along with the devotees and monks.

“We live together with all religions. Jagannath Dev is very sacred to all of us,” said Mamata, who attends the ISKCON Rath Yatra every year.

The chief minister said a large number of people from the state participated in the Rath Yatra festival in Odisha’s Puri, as well as in Hooghly district’s Mahesh, the oldest Rath Yatra in West Bengal, and Kolkata and other places.

Stating that a temple, which is a replica of Puri’s Jagannath temple, in the seaside tourist town Digha is almost complete, Banerjee said that it will be inaugurated after the Durga Puja.

“Rath Yatra will be held at Digha from next year,” she said, addressing the devotees.

Dance performances by women were also held in front of the ISKCON Rath Yatra chariot in south Kolkata before it was pulled by the monks and the devotees through different streets of the metropolis.

The chariot will be stationed at Maidan in the heart of the city for devotees to have darshan till the return of the chariot after eight days.