Devotees started arriving in Puri in droves on Friday to participate in the Nabakalebar Rath Yatra of lord Jagannath and His siblings scheduled to begin on Saturday.On Friday night, servitors pulled three Raths from the Ratha Khala (construction yard) and parked them in front of the Simhadwar (lion’s Gate) of the Shree Mandir facing the east, ready for use of the deities.The deities would go to their aunt’s house, the Shree Gundicha temple, for a nine-day sojourn, riding the three Raths along the three km Badadanda. On the way, they taste the famous Podapitha baked by Mausima. This is a memorable event for lakhs of devotees who would witness the deities in their new bodies. The auspicious moment came after a lapse of nearly two decades.
As per the temple festival schedule, the day’s ritual will begin with Mangal Aarati a 6 am, followed by Rosahoma at 6.30 am, Abakash at 7 am, Suryapuja at 7.30, Khichidi Bhog at 8 am in the temple sanctum sanctorum, while the temple Purohit would consecrate the three Raths parked outside the Simhadwar of the temple.The ceremonial Pahandi of the deities is scheduled for 10 am and would be completed by 1 pm. After observance of another set of nitees, the Gajapati King Dibyasingh Dev, the foremost servitor of the lord, would perform the Chherapahanra (sweeping around the deities on the Raths by a golden broom stick) which would begin at 2 pm and be over by 3 pm.
Thereafter, the servitors would disengage the ladders and fix horses to the three Raths. At 3.30 pm, the devotees would be allowed to pull the chariots one after another with Taladhwaja of lord Balabhadra first, followed by Darpadalan of Devi Subhadra and in the end, lord Jagannath’s Nandighosh.Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure smooth conduct of the Yatra. Ten thousand-strong police personnel of various ranks, several platoons of Rapid Action Force (RAF), hundreds of security personnel of Marine Police, Coast Guard and Navy have been deployed, besides nearly 1,100 firemen with 85 fire tender machines.
This apart, hundreds of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel are also engaged on duty at several railway stations linked to Puri. Two hundred CCTV cameras would monitor the pilgrim crowd, while the traffic regulation would be conducted through an integrated control centre manned by senior police personnel.On Friday, DGP Sanjib Marik was present looking after the arrangements, while OSD Soumendra Priyadarshi was coordinating various security wings. District Magistrate Arabind Agarwal, SJTA chief administrator SC Mahapatra and SP Asish Kumar Singh were present.