The Maa Budhi ThakuraniYatra, which began here on March 29, entered its 22nd day on Friday making the silk city more crowded and colourful.
After several rituals, Maa moved in an impressive procession amidst chanting of hymns and beats of gongs, and reached at paternal house at Deshibehera Sahi in Bada Bazar.
The holy mast for the biennial MaaBudhiThakuraniYatra was erected at Desibehera Street as per schedule. A large number of devotees stayed awake till early morning to participate in the procession which started from Thakurani Temple Street and culminated at Deshibehera Street on March 29. After reaching there, Maa Budhi Thakurani was received by Her father Tathas Desibehera, P Durga Prasad and his wife P Devaki at the temple at old Brahmpur with a basket of flowers and performed a Puja and other rituals to invite the deity.
After completion of the much awaited first phase of Ghata Parikrama (soul journey) of MaaThakurani with traditional rituals, the second phase of “Ghata Parikrama” began on Friday. The significance of theParikrama is that Maa Thakurani moves around different streets and completes the process of invitation of Raths and Kalakunjas (black chariots). According to the traditions, Maa will release Raths invited during first phase and the heads of some Raths(chariots) will be founded in front of her.
During the second phase, the yatra is witnessing huge crowd as devotees those who have had Manasika (personal wish) are moving on the streets with different dresses and styles.
Since only 10 more days left to complete the yatra, lakhs of devotees from different parts of Ganjam and the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal are coming in large numbers to have a darshan of MaaThakurani in her temporary adobe in Deshibera street.
Now thousands of devotees (Manasikadharies) whose wishes are yet to be fulfilled are moving on the streets in different colorful dresses (besh) representing mythological characters to appease the Goddess.
Meanwhile, different chariots have started coming to the yatra venue. According to information available, three such well decorated chariots till Wednesday have come to the yatra venue.
These chariots include BoitaRatha of Chandra street, Maa Jwalamukhee Rath of Kalupatra Street, Binchana Ratha of Bachhuwari Street.
To avoid hot summer, the devotees in remain in queue for darshan. A large number of female devotees first made their pujarchana on the bank of Dharma Jhanda in front of the temporary temple and there after offeredPuja to Maa Thakurani as per the rituals. Interestingly, Beshdharis like Krushna, Balarama, Chhodgazia, and Bagha (tiger) attracted the devotees and entertained them.
In every evening, the ghataparikrama (soul journey) of Maa becomes a routine activity of deity. Similarly, after Ssandhya Alati, Mother Debaki keeping the soul on her head (MukhyaGhata- the chief soul) accompanied by eight other female members of “Dera community” visited the Mahuri Rajabati (Mahuri Palace) with traditional badya and ghanta where the mother of Yuva Raj Ashok Kumar Narendra Deb performed a Puja and Alatee as per the rituals.
During the soul journey to Mahuri Rajbati, thousands of female members on both sides of the Desibehera street were in line on both sides of the road to welcome the Ghata (soul) of Maa Thakurani.
The five streets through which the Ghata Parikrama (soul journey) from Rajbati passed through include Bada Bazar-Khaspa Street, KaribariSahi, Karana Sahi, Sagadia Martha Sahi, and PanidtaSahi. During Parikrama, females by keeping Kumbha at the threshold of their home welcomed Maa Thakurani and sought her blessings.
Preparation for founding Rath and Kalakunja are in full swing. Maa’s favourite chariot known as “Dolee Rath” is likely to be on the road on Sunday.
The business community and their associations have made all-out efforts to attract the devotees to the temporary adobe of Maa Thakurani at Desibehera street and have illuminated the entire area like Bada bazaar, Nadia Gorji, Deshibehera street. The district administration has deployed several platoons of security forces to control the crowd and the traffic and to prevent any untoward incident.