Amidst great fanfare among pilgrims, with lakhs thronging the holy city here, the Bahuda Yatra of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Suvadra and Lord Sudarshan was held with the three chariots reaching the Lions Gate before evening on Friday. The deities crossed 2.6 km on the Badadanda (Grand Road) between the Gundicha Temple and the Shreemandir.
Amidst a cool weather throughout the day, the home-ward journey of the three chariots was quite peaceful with no such major incident reported. The wide pathway from the Saradhabali to the Lions Gate appeared to be a sea of people when the chariots were proceeding amid several stops on the way. The good news is that hours before the scheduled times, all chariots reached the destination.
This was to the great relief of the administration which has got ample time for the Sunabesha (gold attire) of the Lords, scheduled on Saturday.
As per a rough estimate, the turnout of pilgrims in Puri for the Bahuda Yatra was over 5 lakh who were from different parts of the State and outside. Even a lot of foreigners participated in the fest by pulling the ropes of the chariots. Of them, many were Iskcon devotees, whoperformed dances and songs along the pathway.
Lord Balabhadra’s chariot( Taladwaj) left the Gundicha Temple at 1.15 pm first. Half an hour later, the Darpadalan chariot of Devi Suvadra and Nandighos of Lord Jagannath moved on. Against the scheduled time of 12.30 pm, the Pahandi (rally of Lords) from Gundcha Temple began at 9 am and ended at 11.15am.
Puri King Gajapati Dibyasingha Dev offered the Cherapahanra ( sweeping by golden bloom) on each chariot which involves sprinkling of sandalwood paste on the wooden floor and cleaning amid hymn of Vedas and Slokas by the Rajguru.
As part of rites, Jagatguru Sankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati visited the chariots and offered obeisance also.
On way to the Lions Gate, cakes were served to the Lords on board the chariots at the Mousi Maa Temple. Similarly, near the palace ‘Lakshmi-Narayan Bheta’, a meeting of Lord Jagannath with his aggrieved wife, Maa Lakhsmi, was organised by the Gajapati.