BHUBANESWAR: A group of 14 Banajagis, escorting the ‘Daru’ of Lord Sudarshan, embarked on the journey to Puri from Gadakhuntunia village near here in a specially made ‘Sagadi’ (cart) on Tuesday evening.
Daitapatis performed secret rituals on the ‘Daru’ and Biswakarmas (carpenters) prepared the Sagadi, a cart made of tendu, tamarind and banyan timber.
The Daru was resized to ‘choupata’, a rectangular solid block made out of the Neem tree trunk, and wrapped with seven layers of silk cloth and fastened to the Sagadi with ropes made of basunga pata prepared by Patera Bisoyi servitors.
After, the ‘Ajnamala’ from Lord Sudarshan was sent to Sarala Peetha at Kanakpur, where the Daru for Lord Balabhadra has been identified, the Banajagis began their journey.
The Sagadi carrying Lord Sudarshan’s Daru left for its destination at 5 pm. While one group of servitors went with the Daru towards Puri, the rest left for Kanakpur late in the evening.
Meanwhile, the Sabarapalli camp at Gadakhuntunia where Daitapatis and Swotriya Brahmins had put up and the Yajna Mandap wore a deserted look after the departure of the Banajagis.
“This has been once in a lifetime experience for many of us. After the Daitas left our village, the atmosphere was extremely emotional,” a native of Gadakhuntunia Dilip Kumar Martha said.
Rituals like Mahasnana, Ankura Arpana, Surya Puja and Mahayajna of Lord Balabhadra’s Daru will commence on Wednesday following which the felling ceremony will be carried out, president of Daitapati Niyog Ramkrushna Das Mahapatra said.