lord Jagannath and His siblings, lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, after a nine-day sojourn in the Gundicha Temple, on Thursday returned to the Shreemandir in traditional style.
Over five lakh devotees, mostly from the nearby places known as “Panchakosis”, participated in the Bahuda Yatra of the deities in a big way. They pulled the chariots to their destination Simhadwar of the Shree Jagannath temple.
Earlier, following inordinate delay in observance of Pahandi and pulling of chariots during the Rath Yatra, the three Raths could not reach the Gundicha Temple and pulling was resumed next day. However, the administration had taken care for timely observance of all nitees of the deities during the Bahuda Yatra.
As a result, almost all rituals including Pahandi, Chherapahanra and pulling of the Raths were running ahead of the fixed schedule and all the three chariots reached the Simhadwar by evening.
Early in morning, the Daita servitors conducted Pahandi of the deities at about 10.15 am ahead of fixed time and completed Pahandi by12.45 pm. Chherapahanra (sweeping the Raths with a golden broom) by Gajapati Dibyasingh Dev began at about 1.35 pm and was completed by 2.40 pm.
Taladhwaj of lord Balabhdra rolled first at 2.50 pm followed by Darpadalan of Devi Subhadra at 3.30 pm and in the end, rolled the Nandighosh Rath of lord Jagannath at 3.50 pm.
lord Jagannath’s Nandighosh stopped near the palace of Puri king for observance of laxminarayan Veta ritual.
The Trinity would stay on the Raths for three days. On Friday, the famous Suna Vesha would be observed on the chariots while on Saturday the deities would be offered Adhar Pana and on the Sunday, the deities would enter into the sanctum sanctorum of the main temple after offering of Rasagola Bhog called Niladri Bije, marking the end of the festival.