CUTTACK: Devotees soaked in religious fervour as they tugged chariots of the Trinity of Prasannamani temple to Mausima at Nijigada in Tigiria block of the district on Sunday. As per tradition, the pulling of chariots in Nijigada is held a day after the Puri Rath Yatra.
As per reports, the unique festival was started by King Shankarsan Mandhata in 1682 AD. Every year, the King of Tigiria used to go to Puri to take part in the Rath Yatra and after returning to the palace, they start the festival next day. The King who was a devotee of Lord Jagannath used to call the Lord as Prasannamani Purusottam Dev and perform ‘Bada Parichha Seva’ in Puri Rath Yatra festival.
Like Puri Srimandir, all the important rituals including ‘Pahandi bije’ of the deities to their respective chariots and ‘Chherra Panhara’ were performed. For the last 300 years, Rath Yatra has been observed religiously by his successors adhering to the tradition strictly, said Laxmidhar Badapanda, a priest of the temple.
Here, three chariots are constructed with specific heights. While the height of Lord Jagannath’s chariot is 36 ft, the chariots of Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra is 34 ft and 31 ft respectively.
Though the special ‘Seva’ was ceased to exist after the death of King Banamali Khetriya Birabara Chamupati Singhmahapatra, the tradition of pulling chariots a day after Sri Gundicha is still continuing.
On Sunday, thousands of devotees pulled the three chariots at about 3.30 pm to Gundicha temple near Tigiria police station after ‘Chhera Panhara’ ritual was performed by King Birapratap Khetriya Birabara Chamupati Singhmahapatra. The chariots reached Gundicha temple at about 5 pm and the deities were taken inside the temple at 7 pm.