Five lakh devotees on Sunday had darshan of lord Jagannath, lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra in the sanctum sanctorum of the Gundicha Temple on the occasion of the Sandhyadarshan, considered as the most auspicious and holy.
The popular belief is that whoever sees the Bamans (deities one of the avatars of the Hindu pantheon) in the Aadap Mandap gets salvation. Offering of prayers and taking Mahaprasad in the Gundicha Temple complex one earns huge Punya, the belief goes. lakhs of devotees tasted the Mahaprasad in the temple complex on Sunday.
The darshan of the deities began from early morning and went on till 7 pm. Heavy barricades were raised along the Badadanda to regulate the traffic flow to the temple.
After the darshan was over, the Daita servitors became busy preparing the deities for the Bahuda Yatra on Monday. All the three chariots were pulled from their arrival place to the exit gate of the Gundicha Temple and parked at Saradhabali in front of the Nakachana Dwar (exit gate) for the return journey of the holy Trinity, who spent nine days in their aunt's (Gundicha) house.
As per a temple release, the Monday's pahandi of the deities would commence by 12 noon. The first Rath Taladhwaj of Balabhadra would start rolling along the Grand Road by 3 pm.