PURI:Over five lakh devotees pulled the ‘sagadi’ (cart) carrying Daru for Lord Jagannath’s idol from the Nrusingha temple in Puri to Koilibaikuntha in the 12th century Jagannath temple on Friday.
A devotee from Uttar Pradesh, Vivek Singh, and Additional SP Jagannath Pradhan were injured in a stampede near Nrusingha temple, located behind the Gundicha temple.
On Thursday night, the ‘sagadi’ reached Nrusingha temple where the Banajaga Yatris took rest for the night. On Friday morning, the ceremonial ‘ajnamala’ was brought to the temple by Jagannath temple priests. They also invited the Banajagis to bring the Daru to the Jagannath temple. A large number of Sankirtan troupes and folk artistes accompanied the ‘sagadi’ from Nrusingha temple. It took the devotees two hours to pull the ‘sagadi’ to Koilibaikuntha through the north gate of the temple. The Daru was taken to the Daru Gruha, a special enclosure inside the Koilibaikuntha, where the new idols of Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra, Lord Balabhadra and Lord Sudarshan will be carved.
The cart carrying the Daru for Lord Jagannath began its journey from Kharipadia in Jagastinghpur district on May 15 and reached Puri, covering a distance of 150 km.
As per the procedures in the Nabakalebara manual, the Patimahapatra would offer ‘bhog’ to the Darus everyday till carving of the idols begins. The sculptors would begin carving the idols after the ‘Deba Snana Purnima’ on June 2 during the Anasara period. Three oldest sculptors will be main sculptors for the idol of Lord Jagannath.
Three others will carve the idol of Subhadra and as many others that of Lord Balabhadra. More than 50 sculptors would assist them and also carve the image of Lord Sudarshan.
With this, the last leg of Banajaga Yatra - the opening chapter of Nabakalebara - came to an end.
After the Jagannath Daru reached the Daru Gruha in Koilibaikuntha, the Banajagis offered prayer to the Trinity in the sanctum sanctorum on Friday.