Iskcon was conspicuous by their presence in the crowd

June 28, 2006

Lakhs witness rath yatra

Press Trust of India

PURI, June 27: Hundreds of thousands of devotees, some of them dancing in ecstasy, thronged the pilgrim city to witness the annual rath yatra which commenced today amidst unprecedented security after the state government’s decision to ban Left-wing ultras.

The chariots rolled towards the Gundicha temple, about three kilometres down the road, with the entire crowd becoming euphoric.

Sadhus clad in saffron and foreigners, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), were conspicuous by their presence in the crowd.

People occupied every available space on the roofs and balconies of buildings on both sides of the road to witness the proceedings. Some of the devotees were seen dancing with small idols of Lord Jagannath in their hands.

As non-Hindus are prohibited from entering the temple, this is an occasion when people from different religions have an opportunity to have a glimpse of the deities outside the shrine, sevayats said. The red and green chariot of Balabhadra, named Taladhwaja, was pulled first, followed by the red and black Darpadalan, the chariot of Subhadra.

The red and yellow Nandighosh, on which Jagannath had been placed, was pulled last.

The deities, who are treated as human beings, had made an appearance before the devotees on the occasion of Naba Jouban or Netrotsav only yesterday, after remaining in seclusion for a fortnight.

After being bathed with 108 pots of water during Snan Yatra on 11 June, the deities, as per temple traditions, they are believed to have fallen sick and confined to the Anasar Ghar (sick chamber) since then.

Tribal priests, known as daitas, remained in charge of the deities, offering them fruit and water mixed with cheese. A Raj Vaidya (physician) treated the deities as they recuperated.

The temple doors remained shut for all these days before it was thrown open yesterday to allow devotees to have darshan of the deities in Naba Jouban attire.

Several thousand armed policemen stood guard and hidden surveillance cameras monitored the goings on as devotees jostled for space on the wide Grand Road outside the 12th century Sri Jagannath temple where three majestic chariots waited for the deities to emerge from the shrine.

This seaside resort woke up to the shout of Haribol and Jai Jagannath as fine sunny weather greeted the huge crowd. Inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, hundreds of priests went through a series of intricate rituals to prepare the deities ~ Jagannath, Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra ~ for the occasion.

Security inside and outside the shrine this year had been tightened in view of the government’s recent decision to declare the activities of CPI (Maoist) and seven of its frontal organisations unlawful.

As the administration had perceived the threat to be higher this time at a place where a large crowd was congregating, security had been further tightened, the superintendent of police, Mr Sanjib Kumar Panda, said.

An anti-Naxalite team, a bomb disposal squad, a quick reaction team, sniffer dogs and other equipment had been deployed while two companies of Rapid Action Force had been stationed to tackle any eventuality.

Rath yatra is also being held today in many places of Orissa, including Baripada, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Koraput and Parlakhemundi.