BHUBANESWAR: Pulling of Rukuna Rath, the chariot of Lord Lingaraj, was stopped midway on the second day on Sunday. Chariot pulling will resume on Monday. As per reports, pulling of the chariot, which began from Lingaraj temple at Old Town here on the auspicious day of Ashokastami on Saturday, was supposed to end at Mausima Temple.
However, due to delay in rituals, the chariot on the first day could roll only for a few hundred metres and was halted near Badheibanka. Though chariot pulling was started on Sunday again, it was stopped a few hundred metres away from Mausima temple. The temple administration said pulling of chariot is stopped before sunset and it will resume on Monday. Rukuna Rath Yatra, the annual chariot festival of Lord Lingaraj, takes place every year in which bronze images of three deities - Chandrasekhar (the representative of Lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva - are taken to Rameshwar temple in a colourful procession.
The deities stay in the temple for four days before returning to Lingaraj temple in the chariot. Khurda district administration made elaborate security arrangements and set up an information kiosk near Lingaraj temple for devotees, said DIPRO Lalatendhu Mohapatra.