A large pool of devotees have gathered at the seaside of the pilgrim town for Lord Jagannath’s annual ‘Ratha Jatra’ on Tuesday (June 20). The Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra, which commences from the Puri temple, will conclude at Shree Gundicha temple, covering nearly a 3-kilometre distance.
The annual yatra will witness chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath being pulled from the Shri Jagannath temple. To honor the day, several similar yatras are also taken out in other parts of India.
The famous rath festival which is usually celebrated in June-July starts when Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and his younger sister Devi Subhadra are ready to give darshan to the public. Lakhs of devotees will pull the three majestic chariots and it is believed that the deities enjoy a nine days stay in Gundicha Temple and then return to Shree Mandir only after completing the Yatra on the same chariots called ‘Bahuda Yatra’ on June 28.
Elaborate arrangements by Odisha government
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has made special arrangements for the Rath Yatra festival and has deployed as many as 180 platoons (1 platoon comprises 30 personnel) of security forces in Puri. The state government has put in place multi-layer security arrangements for the smooth conduct of the festival.
According to the chief of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), this year’s festival will witness a congregation of around 10 lakh people in Puri. The officials also revealed that a total of 125 special trains will travel to Puri during the festival for the devotees. To ensure the safety of the people a large number of CCTV cameras assisted by drone cameras will function during the yatra.
In view of the hot and humid weather conditions, volunteers are placed at various stations to sprinkle water on devotees, while the authorities have set up a green corridor for any health emergency.
President Murmu, PM Modi greet people on the occasion of Rath Yatra
On the occasion of Rath Yatra, President Droupadi Murmu extended her greeting to the people of the nation and prayed for happiness, peace and prosperity in everyone’s life. The president took to her Twitter to extend her greeting to the people in Hindi and Odia.
The Prime Minister also extended his wishes to the people on the occasion via Twitter and wished for health, happiness and spiritual enrichment of everyone.