Thousands of devotees attended the ceremonial hoisting of the Jhanda Sahib flag at Sri Guru Ram Rai Durbar in Dehradun on Sunday. The SGRR spiritual head Mahant Devendra Das directed the ceremonial installation of the new flag pole and hoisting of the flag which also marked the formal start of the Jhanda Mela.
The ceremonies began early in the morning as scheduled and lasted till evening with devotees from across India and abroad participating with fervour.
As in past years, multitudes gathered in the morning to replace the flag pole.
According to the Mahant Devendra Das, this year the flag pole is about 94 feet tall bole of Sal and this year the new flag pole was erected in a record time of eight minutes whereas in the past it used to take up to an hour to do so.
The devotees have booked the opportunity to donate the Darshini Gilaf (velvet cover of the flag pole) for the period till 2096. This year, Narendra Singh from Mohali presented the Darshini Gilaf.
Preparations for replacing the flag pole had been going on for the past couple of days.
On Sunday morning the old flag pole was removed and the new one was bathed with milk, clarified butter and honey amidst religious chants.
The ceremonious process of covering the new flag pole with various Gilafs began in the morning and lasted till about 3 pm. The Mahant blessed devotees who had arrived here from parts of Uttarakhand, UP, HP, Haryana, Punjab and abroad.