Religious fervour gripped the pilgrim town of Puri when the three colossal chariots carrying Lord Balabhada, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath were pulled on the Bada Danda on Friday. A sea of humanity witnessed the festival after a two-year ban for the Covid pandemic.
Pulling of Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balavadra began at 12.30 pm followed by Darpadalana of Devi Subhadra and Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath. By evening, all the chariots reached the Gundicha Temple.
The chariots were parked before the Gundicha Temple where the deities were to spend the night. On Saturday evening, the deities would enter the Gundicha Temple and stay there until the Bahuda Yatra, the return journey, after nine days.
Like the Jagannath Temple, all rituals of the deities would be accomplished daily at the Gundicha Ghar, the maternal home of the Lords. Even, devotees can make darshan of the deities and purchase Mahaprasad like they do at the Jagannath Temple.
In a reare instance, the Pahandi Bije from the Jagannath Temple had begun as early as 6.15 am and concluded at 9 am. It was more than 2.5 hours before the scheduled time. Early conduct of Pahandi Bije had puzzled the denizens and even many servitors in their preparation to reach the shrine for participation. To ensure the event early, the servitors had resumed works as early as 3.10 am in the temple.
As per the tradition, Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati and Gajapati King Dibyasingha Deb accomplished Puja and Chhera Panhara, respectively, on each chariot before their departure from the Lions Gate. Governor Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were present at the Lions Gate.