Special precautions taken by the district police and the temple administration in conducting the pilgrim crowd inside the Jagannath Temple here during the Kartik Purnima observation paid good dividends.
Earlier at least 30 devotees were hospitalised in first three days of Panchuka Brata while one lady allegedly died in a near stampede situation.
Notably, the Puri shrine has been attracting huge devotees, particularly elderly women, in the last one month due to the Kartik month considered to be the holiest by the Hindus. Thanks to the streamlining of the darshan process by the police this year, the casualty of devotees has been reduced to three.
Purnima being the last day of the month long Kartik Brat, over four lakh devotees witnessed the Rajrajeswar vesha of lord Jagannath (Sunavesha) in the sanctum sanctorum of the Jagannath temple on Thursday. The devotees spent the night on the Badadanda near the Simhadwar of the temple listening to Bhajans. Chanting holy hymns they rushed for holy dip in the Mahodadhi tirth (a stretch of five km sea) to worship the rising Sun. They placed basil tree (Tulasi) in traditional style on the sandy beach and worshipped.
Apart from the Brata observers, hundreds of residents thronged the sea and sailed tiny boats into the sea recounting the glorious sea trade traditions of the State. The devotees then rushed to the temple to offer prayers.The temple administration had rescheduled their daily practice and the temple gate was thrown open since midnight for the devotees who in large numbers offered their prayers.
The temple servitors dressed lord Jagannath and his siblings in pure gold ornaments.As many as 48 platoons of police personnel and 200 officers of various ranks, besides 450 home guards, were deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the ritual. SP Asish Kumar Singh, IGP RP Koche, district Magistrate Arabind Agarwal and the temple officials were present.
The administration had deployed hundreds of life guards along the beach to assist the devotees for safe bathing while a number of power boats were on the patrol in close proximity of the coast to conduct rescue operations in the event of any mishap. No untoward incident was reported.