PURI: Curtains came down on the annual Rath Yatra festival after the Trinity was escorted into the Srimandir’s Garbha Gruha (sanctum sanctorum) in Pahandi procession called Niladri Bije on Friday.
The homecoming rituals of the deities started early in the morning with the servitors pe rforming Mangala Alati, Mailum, Tadaplagi, Abakash before the Gopal Bhog was offered. At noon, Madhyana Dhupa was offered. Bahuda Pahandi began at 5 pm with the idols of Rama Krushna and Madan Mohan taken inside the Srimandir first followed by Sudarshan, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. Lord Jagannath was the last to enter the sanctum sanctorum at 7.45 pm.
Before Lord Jagannath’s return to the Grabha Gruha, His ‘Goti Pahandi’ was obstructed by His consort Goddess Mahalaxmi as she was annoyed for not being allowed to accompany Him on the journey to Gundicha temple. The Goddess was pacified after being offered Rasagola and the Lord was let in.
Over 10,000 servitors, temple officials, police personnel and journalists were made to undergo Covid-19 test in four phases. Only those found Covid negative were allowed to participate in the festival.
The administration had created a bio-bubble for carpenters who took 55 days to construct the chariots. Besides, as many as 65 platoons of police force and 500 officers of various ranks were deployed for the mega event. Curfew was imposed on the entire Bada Danda stretch while section 144 was clamped in the rest of the town.
All roads leading to Puri and the lanes connecting Bada Danda were sealed. The Grand Road was put under CCTV surveillance and drone cameras kept a close watch on the festival proceedings.
For the second successive year, Rath Yatra was organised without participation of devotees and in strict adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the State government to contain the spread of Covid.
During the festival, Simhadwar police booked at least 20 persons for violating the curfew and entering the Rath cordon. Police also sealed a hotel for allowing devotees to watch festival proceedings from the rooftop. From Saturday onwards, the regular rituals would resume in the temple with offering of cooked bhog to the deities. The bhog on the first day after the Trinity’s return to Srimandir is popularly called as Nilachal Abadha.
Since the temple is closed for devotees, the administration in consultation with Suar and Mahasuar nijog has made arrangements to provide the abadha at South and West gates of Srimandir. Meanwhile, Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, the chief servitor of the Trinity, completed 50 years of his ‘Chhera Pahanra’ service this Rath Yatra.