PURI: The wait of lakhs of devotees finally came to an end as Lord Jagannath's chariot 'Nandighosh' started rolling on the Grand Road on a nine-day sojourn to Gundicha temple, said to be his annual vacation to his aunt's house. The Nandighosh, chariot of Lord Jagannath, started rolling at 2.20 pm.
'Taladhwaja', chariot of Lord Balabhadra was the first to roll on the grand road, followed by 'Debadalan' the chariot of Debi Subhadra. The pulling of chariots of the trinity started amidst chant of 'Jai Jagannath' and clanging of cymbals.
A sea of people converged on Bada Danda (Grand Road) for the Rath Yatra, which is being held with the participation of devotees after two years due to Covid-19 pandemic. The chariot of Balabhadra, 'Taladhwaja', started rolling at 12.40 pm. Almost three hours ahead of schedule.
Lord Jagannath came out of the Srimandir along with Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra three hours earlier than the time fixed as if to meet ardent devotees after a gap of two years. Temple and deities were out of bound to devotees for two years because of pandemic. While as per temple schedule the ceremonial pahandi was to begin by 9.30 am, it is advanced by three hours begining at 6 am and over by 9am.
On Friday, servitors perforned daily chores of deities by 3am begining with Mangal arati, Mailum, Tadaplagi, Abakash, Dwarpal and Suryapuja, rosahoma which were completed by 5am there after Gopal bhog was offered.
At the outset, outside the Srimandir in front of Simhadwar, the temple purohit organised a ritual and consecrated the three chariots before boarding of the deities on them. Before that carpenters fixed Kanak Mundis to each chariot and erected flag masts.The process was over by 6am with fashioning of flags on the masts.
Inside the Srimandir, Daita servitors began Pahandi procession with Balabhadra first followed by Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath at the end. Deities Sudarshan, Ramakrishna and Madanmohan were also brought in Pahandi and placed on the chariots to accompany the Lord.
As soon as Lord Jagannath came galloping with giant floral tiara swinging to his steps out of Simhadwar led by a music concert comprising cymbals, Mrudang, bugle, blowing of conch shell and display of Odissi dancers went into trance and jostled among themshelves to have a glimpse of the Lord Jagannath. Hari Om, Huluhuli( a typical sound generated using tongue and upper scalp of mouth by ladies) and reciting of hymns rented the atmosphere.
Badadanda was transformed into an ocean of humans. Entire Badadanda the venue of the fete has been bearing an asthaetic arena. After Pahandi was over Sankaracharya of Gobardhan peeth Swamy Neeschalananda Saraswati along with his disciples and offered his prayers to deities on each rathas. At about 12.30pm Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb came riding his famous "Tanzan" a special palnquin which is carried by servitors on shoulders to the festival site. Gajapati performed Chhera pahanra(sweeping on the chariots with a golden broom) on all three chariots.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived at Puri by road and witnessed Parikrama model at the South side of Srimandir Parikrama project and then came to festival site. Governor Prof. Ganesi Lal, union minister Biswaswar Tudu besides a number of ministers of his cabinet participated in the pulling of Nandighosh Rath. If every thing moves in right direction the three chariots are likely to reach their destination Gundicha temple by late evening today.