JHARSUGUDA: Rath Yatra in Remanda village exemplifies communal harmony. The non-descript village in Lakhanpur block of Brajrajnagar witnesses participation of both Hindus and Muslims in celebrating the annual sojourn of the Trinity and this has been the practice for the last 120 years.
In fact, a Muslim, Mohammed Zamir-ul-lah, conducts the Chhera Pahanra of three chariots of the deities. Zamir-ul-lah is also the Gountia (head of the village). On Tuesday, he performed the ritual and the chariots were pulled towards their destination by people of both the communities.
The tradition of organising Rath Yatra was started by his grandfather, Masud Ali, who was appointed as a Gountua by the Britishers. Ali’s family organised the festival every year but Zamir-ul-lah started conducting the ceremonial sweeping of chariots in 1984, a year after his father Mohammed Khalil passed away. Khalil was also the village head. Since then, Rath Yatra has become an annual festival in the village under the patronage of the Muslim family. All members of his family take active part in the organisation of Rath Yatra in the village.
Here, Rath Yatra begins three days after that in Puri. The festival is celebrated in Puri on ‘Twitiya’, the second day in the Asadha month, but in Remanda, it is observed on ‘Panchami’, the fifth day of the month. Apparently, there is no temple for Lord Jagannath and his Siblings in the village. The idols are worshipped in the house of a priest, Subhash Satpathy. On the day of Rath Yatra, the idols are taken atop the chariots and pulled towards another house of Satpathy which is designated as Mausi Maa temple for nine-day festive period.
“Earlier, we used to borrow idols of the Trinity from nearby villages, which delayed the Rath Yatra by three days. However, now we have our own idols but the practice remains the same,” said Zamir-ul-lah. He added that being head of the village, his foremost duty is to keep the traditions related to Lord Jagannath alive. A devotee of Lord Jagannath, Zamir-ul- lah also reads ‘Namaaz’ five times a day. For his dedication, he was also honoured with Sarala Samman.
“I feel extremely proud about the rich tradition that my family has kept alive. In our village, we give equal importance to festivals of both the communities. Religion is for a community while festivals are for all,” he said.Satpathy said the Gountia has kept people of different faiths united. “In our village, we give importance to all the festivals whether it is Nuakhai or Eid. We take part in their festival and vice versa,” said Remanda Sarpanch, Damayanti Dani.