Hundreds of devotees have been thronging Jhankada in Jagatsinghpur district ever since Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra made the formal announcement on Friday that the neem tree in front of the famous Sarala temple has been selected as the Daru for carving of an idol of lord Balabhadra for the Nabakalebar.
While devotees are worshiping the Daru by offering wicker lamps and flowers, the administration has erected barricades using iron grills around the tree for its protection. It has cleared the space encroached by shops and other makeshift establishments around the assigned tree. With the singing of hymns to beats of Mridangas, cymbals and Kirtans by various groups of devotees, an atmosphere of spirituality prevails here.
The approach to the location being narrow, the police administration has blocked entry of vehicles into the area for facilitating Darshan of the Daru by devotees, who are arriving in hordes from nearby areas as well as from far-off places. Around 15 platoons of policemen have been deployed for security and crowd control.
While a team from the Banajaga Yatris visited the place on Saturday to take stock of the preparations, the administration is busy building infrastructure for the conduct of rituals ahead of felling of the Daru, which has been tentatively fixed for April 24, as well as for the stay of the Banajaga Yatra team.
According to district administration officials, constructions of the Sabarapalli where the Banajaga Yatra team will camp and the Yajna Mandap where Mahayajna will be conducted are almost completed. The Mahayajna will be held on April 22 and 23 and on its completion the Daru will be felled on April 24.
Meanwhile, after the felling of lord Sudarshan’s Daru at Gadakuntunia near Bhubaneswar, the focus has now shifted to Jhankada and the flow of devotees to Gadakuntunia has thinned.
Daitapati servitors said the Gadakuntunia Daru would be carried to Puri in a Sagadi (cart with four wheels made either of tamarind, banyan or tendu timber). The wood for construction of the Sagadi has already arrived and work on it would start soon. The Daru would be wrapped in silk and tied with silk ropes and pulled by devotees all the way to Puri.