BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of devotees thronged the temples across the Twin city on the holy occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday.
Public gathering and satsangs were organised in both the cities to celebrate the birth anniversary of the legendary king of Ayodhya. In the capital city, Ram Navami was celebrated with gaiety and fervour at Ram Mandir, as hundreds of devotees came to offer their prayers to Lord Ram, Lakshman and Devi Sita. The idols were richly decorated with flowers.
The day being a holiday, thousands of devotees came to the temple throughout the day to worship the deities. As the crowd swelled at the temple towards the evening, police had a tough time in controlling the situation. The roads leading to Ram temple witnessed traffic jams in the afternoon, causing inconvenience to the public.
Rukuna Rath Reaches Mausima Temple: A day after being stationed at the Tinimundei Chhack due to a snag in the wheel, the Rukuna Rath resumed its journey on Sunday noon.
Like on Saturday, thousands of devotees turned up at the 11th century Lingaraj temple to pull the Rukuna Rath. After being delayed by around 45 minutes, the bronze images of the three deities __ Chandrasekhara (incarnation of Lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva __ were brought atop the 35-foot chariot parked outside the shrine at around 1.20 pm on Saturday.
Pahandi rituals were completed and pulling of the chariots started at around 4 pm. However, the chariot had to be stationed at Tinimundei Chhack at about 6 pm as it developed snag in one of the four wheels. The deities will stay in the Mausima temple for four days before returning to Lingaraj temple.
The four-wheeled Rukuna Rath is also called analeuta chariot (the chariot that does not take a turn). As custom goes, the Rukuna Rath never “takes a turn”. When the chariot returns after a retreat at Mausima temple, it is drawn from behind. The altar of the deities is only reversed. The Rukuna Rath Yatra precedes the famous Car Festival of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra held at Puri every year.
Police deployment were made at both Ram Mandir and Ratha Danda near the Lingaraj temple to avoid any untoward incident.