SAMBALPUR: For the second year in a row, newborn babies of the district were deprived of ‘Ratha Chhuan’, a tradition exclusive to Western Odisha, due to the Covid restrictions on Monday.During Rath Yatra, people take their newborn to the chariots and make them touch the Trinity. ‘Ratha Chhuan’ is an important tradition in the region, especially in Sambalpur district. Considered a sacred ritual, it is performed for the well-being and prosperity of the baby. The ritual is performed only after completion of ‘Annaprasanna’ or ‘Bhat Khua’ of an infant.
Priest of Mudipara Jagannath temple Byomakesh Panda said, “Ratha Chhuan is an age old tradition and it has never been discontinued in last so many years in Sambalpur. There is a common belief that the ritual purifies the body of the child. Priests take the babies from their parents and make them touch the deities. Since, there is a ban on car festival for the last two years due to the Covid crisis, the newborns are being deprived of the important ritual.”
Panda informed that since last year, parents are bringing their newborns to the temple on the occasion of Rath Yatra to touch the deities. But the ritual is not being observed in the traditional manner. According to old timers, ‘Ratha Chhuan’ first started at the Rath Yatra of Brahmapura temple in Sambalpur, one of the oldest Jagannath shrines of the region built in the 17th century. Gradually, the tradition spread across the district and later, in entire Western Odisha.
With at least one Jagannath temple dotting the landscape in each gram panchayat of the district, many believe that Sambalpur houses the maximum number of shrines of Lord Jagannath in the State. There are 220 Jagannath temples in the district including 27 shrines in Sambalpur city.