BHUBANESWAR: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) will take up the issue of Lord Balabhadra’s Taladhwaja not maneuvering properly during Rath Yatra with the Maharana and Bhoi sevayats who are in charge of chariot construction. The presence of uncontrollable crowds in the inner cordon of the chariots during ‘pahandi’ will also be investigated.
Temple chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said it was noticed that the Taladhwaja chariot was veering off towards the corners and did not move straight resulting in the delay in pulling it. “Taladhwaja chariot has 14 wheels and every year, initial problems are seen in pulling of the chariot. We will discuss with Maharana and Bhoi sevayats on the issue,” Padhee said.
He added that the chariot moved without any hindrance on Saturday and reached the Shree Gundicha temple. On Friday, pulling of Taladhwaja was delayed for over 1.5 hours as it kept veering towards its left and right due to improper handling of the four ropes of the chariot by both devotees and security personnel.
As a result, the chariot could not take a straight direction and due to less distance between Taldhawaja and Devi Subhadra’s Darpadalana, the latter’s pulling could not start before 6.10 pm. Lord Jagannath’s Nandighosha could not go beyond Bagadia Dharamshala near the Lions’ Gate.
“Our focus right now is on the conduct of all the remaining rituals of the Trinity including the Adapa Mandap pahandi on Sunday. After all the rituals, the issue of delay in pulling of Taladhwaja chariot and alleged presence of more people within the inner cordon of the chariots will be examined,” he added.
Overcrowding within the cordon areas is also being attributed as one of the reasons behind the delay. The inner cordon witnessed overcrowding since the time Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb arrived at the Grand Road for ‘Chhera Pahanra’ of the three chariots. The crowd further swelled during the ‘Chhera Pahanra’ of Lord Jagannath’s Nandighosa.
On allegations of more cordon passes being provided to people, the temple chief administrator said that might have been the case but it cannot be ascertained as of now.