BARIPADA/JEYPORE: A day after the Rath Yatra at Puri, thousands of devotees congregated on the Grand Road near Haribaldev Jew temple to pull the chariots of the Trinity at Dwitiya Srikhetra Baripada in Mayurbhanj on Friday.
Braving rains, the devotees first pulled the chariot of Lord Balabhadra which reached the Gundicha Temple in the afternoon. Subsequently, thousands of women pulled Devi Subhadra’s chariot halfway till Baripada Town police station before sunset.
Pulling of the chariots of Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath will resume on Saturday. Devi Subhadra’s chariot will be first taken to Gundicha temple followed by Lord Jagannath.
The car festival of Haribaldev Jew temple is a 13-day affair unlike in Puri where the deities embark on a nine-day sojourn to Gundicha temple. Besides, the chariot of Devi Subhadra is pulled only by women devotees.
Similarly in Koraput, a large number of devotees from across the district participated in the annual Rath Yatra at Jeypore and pulled the Trinity’s chariot through the town.
Amid chants of vedic hymns and blowing of conch shells, devotees from Jeypore, Koraput, Boipariguda, Kotpad, Borigumma, Lamtaput and nearby areas pulled the newly-built chariot from Rajanagar to the Gundicha Temple.
Earlier on Thursday, the idols of the Trinity were taken out of the Jagannath Temple in a ceremonial Pahandi procession and placed on the chariot, where the deities remained for public darshan.