With the three chariots brought in front of the Nakachana Dwar of the Shree Gundicha temple in Puri, the stage is now set for the Bahuda Yatra of the deities scheduled on Sunday.
The devotees pulled the Darpadalala chariot of Devi Subhadra and Taladhwaja chariot of lord Balabhadra and turned them southward in front of the Nakachana Dwar on Thursday.
The Darpadalala chariot was kept southward after the Daitapatis brought the Agyanmal of the lords to the Ratha Chakada in the evening. later, the chariot of lord Balabhadra was also pulled to the Nakachana Dwar at about 6.15 pm.
After performing the rituals on Friday morning,
the chariot of lord Jagannath was pulled to the Nakachana Dwar and stationed facing south.
Meanwhile, there has been a rush of devotees to the Shree Gundicha Temple to have darshan of the lords.
With the Navami Darshan of the lords scheduled on Saturday, police have made special arrangements in and outside the Shree Gundicha Temple for smooth entry and exit of devotees.
Assuring the people that the Daitapatis would perform the Bahuda Yatra, Suna Vesha and Niladri Bije of the lords smoothly, Jagannath Swain Mohapatra, the Badagrahi of lord Jagannath, said the temple administration should not be vengeful towards the servitors.
Referring to the incident of a woman devotee mounting the Nandighosha chariot, Mohapatra said the temple administration and the
police should take necessary steps to restrain the devotees from attempting to
mount the chariots.
“In my opinion, the temple administration should instal a mike under the chariot and make announcement about the restriction on the mounting of the chariots. Since a number of devotees from rural areas have come to Puri, they are unaware of the directive of the Odisha High Court not to mount the chariots. The mike announcement would ceratinly help them,” he added.
Notably, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had suspended Pratihari Sevayat Artatrana Pratihari and issued a show-cause notice to the Jagannath Badagrahi after watching video footage in which a woman devotee was seen mounting the Nandighosh chariot of lord Jagannath during Adapa Pahandi of the lords on Tuesday.