Lakhs of devotees soaked in spiritual fervour thronged the pilgrim town of Puri from across the country at the Grand Road on Saturday to witness Lord Jagannath’s ‘Bahuda Yatra’ (return car festival), thus marking the grand culmination of the annual Rath Yatra of the revered deities.
The pulling of the chariots of the divine trinity — Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra, and Lord Balabhadra — by ardent devotees filled the entire Grand Road (the venue of chariots’ majestic arch) with spirituality amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’ and the beating of cymbals.
The deities left the Jagannath temple on 27 June during the Rath Yatra and proceeded to the Gundicha temple, which is revered as their birthplace. After staying there for a week, they began their return journey to the Jagannath temple — an event celebrated as the ‘Bahuda Yatra’.
A multi-layered security net was put in place across the town with heavy deployment of forces to ensure smooth celebrations and prevent any untoward incidents. Besides, the crowd control mechanism was strengthened in view of the tragic deaths of three devotees during this year’s Rath Yatra.
According to mythology, the three deities — Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra, and their sister Devi Subhadra — conclude their annual nine-day sojourn to the Sri Gundicha Temple, their birthplace, and return to the Sreemandir or Sri Jagannath temple riding their three majestic wooden chariots.
Several special rituals were performed before the deities were taken out of the Gundicha temple and placed on the three colourfully decorated chariots for the return journey amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’ and ‘Hari Bol’.
The divine siblings were taken to their chariots in an elaborate ritual called ‘Pahandi’, accompanied by the beating of gongs, cymbals, and the blowing of conch shells. Lord Jagannath was ensconced in the largest of the three chariots — the 45-foot-high ‘Nandighosh’, Lord Balabhadra in his 44-foot-high ‘Taladhwaja’, and Devi Subhadra in her 43-foot-high ‘Darpadalan’.
Gajapati King of Puri, Divya Singha De,b performed the ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual. He offered prayers to the deities and then swept the platforms of the chariots with a golden broom and sprinkled flowers and fragrant water.
The deities, who had embarked on a nine-day sojourn to the Gundicha Temple during the Rath Yatra, would finally re-enter the 12th-century shrine and again be placed on the ‘Ratna Simhasana’, the bejeweled throne, following a ceremony called ‘Niladri Bije’.
Ahead of ‘Niladri Bije’, the deities would be decorated with ‘suna besha’ or golden attire on their chariots, which traditionally attracts a large number of devotees.
As per the age-old tradition, the deities spend the night on their respective chariots, with priests performing the rituals on the chariots themselves. Attired in yellow metals, deities emerge for darshan the following day.
After the ‘Aadhar Pana’ (a special drink) ritual, the deities will enter Jagannath Temple in the ceremonial procession known as ‘Niladri Bije’, marking the conclusion of the Rath Yatra.