Lakhs of devotees turned up on Friday to witness the annual Sri Jagannath Rath Yatra held under unprecedented security in Puri, Orissa. The annual event symbolises a mass festival without discrimination of caste or creed.
People jostled for space in front of the 12th century Sri Jagannath temple for a glimpse of the deities -- Balabhadra, Jagannath and their sister Subhadra -- who were brought out of the shrine for their annual rendezvous with the devotees. Scores of sevayats (devotees), clad in dhoti and gamuchha, swayed the idols to and fro to the accompaniment of drums and gongs in the ritual known as 'pahandi' as policemen on rooftops and closed-circuit television cameras kept watch.
The pilgrim town woke up to the shouts of Haribol and Jai Jagannath as priests went through rituals preparing the deities for the festival, one of the most important in the Oriya almanac.
The idols were taken out of the sanctum sanctorum down the famous 'baisi pahacha' (22 steps) before appearing at the 'Simha dwar' (Lion's Gate) of the temple.
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Before the chariots began rolling, the Gajapati king of Puri, Divya Singh Deva, swept the platform of the chariots with a golden broom, in a ritual called 'Chera Panhara'. The other two chariots, red and black 'Darpadalan' of Devi Subhadra and red and yellow 'Nandighosh' of Jagannath started rolling subsequently. However, tragedy struck the annual yatra when six people were crushed to death and several others were injured in a stampede as the idol of Devi Subhadra was being brought out from the Lion's gate of the 12th century temple.
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In Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders visited the temple premises in Jamalpur area and offered prayers before the yatra began.
The flower-decked chariots, which are second only to the Jagannath Yatra at Puri in fame and grandeur, were accompanied by decorated trucks carrying devotees. In all 30 akhadas, 18 bhajan mandalis and three Ras Garba teams also form part of the yatra procession. Similar processions were also taken out in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
.Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra in New York too: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness took out its annual Jagannath Rath Yatra from Central Park on Fifth Avenue to Washington Square Park in New York on Saturday.
