By Our Correspondent
MANCHSTER/BHUBANESWAR: The third largest city of U.K., Manchester hosted Fourth Rath Yatra Festival of Lord Jagannath with spectacular fanfare and spiritual fervour. Commencing from the morning special religious rituals have been performed before the Four Deities stationed at Gita Bhawan with utmost solemnity and unfettered devotion by the main priest Pandit Shyam Sunder Sharma. Gita Bhawan was aesthetically and elegantly decorated to mark the Grand Occasion. Organised by North West Odisha Society this year’s Car Festival evoked unusual enthusiasm and unprecedented excitement among both the organizers and spectators.
Around 500 Odia and non Odia devotees congregated at Gita Bhawan to take part in the Holy Event. At about 12.45 p.m. the four deities were taken in Dhadi Pahandi procession to the colourful chariot, parked outside Gita Bhawan. Superbly designed the chariot was decked up with an amazing Patachitra painting designed by Renowned Artist Bibek Babu.
The entire atmosphere got reverberated with the recitals of hymns, roaring slogans like Hari Bol, Jai Jagannath, sounding of hulahuli, blowing off conch and playing of musical instruments such as Ghanta, ,Mardala, Jhanja and Mrudanga.The highlight of the celebration was the Pahandi of Goddesss Subhadra being performed exclusively by ladies. The long awaited and much cherished moment came when the chariot pulling began at around 1.15 p.m.The street of Manchester witnessed the Royal Sojourn of the Lord of The Universe on board the chariot in a majestic manner. The Gods and Goddess’s caravan went through Wilbraham Road, Werburgh’s Road, Brantingham Road and Withington Road before getting back to Gita Bhawan premises. The distinguished dignitaries present include MP from Manchester Groton, Afzal Khan and Noted Spiritual Preacher from India Devi Chitralekhaji.
A spectacular cultural extravaganza consisting of presentations of soul stirring Bhajans by Noted artists Rakesh Joshi and Dinesh Kochar and scintillating Odissi dance recital by Tanisha formed part of the Mega Event. Local senior artists such as Reshma Mohapatra, Dr Rajinder Singh,Kananabala Mishra, Anantika, Saanvi Sahoo, Drishika Panigrahi and Rekha Senapati also enthralled the audiences by their memorable and mesmerizing music and dance performances. As announced by temple management committee the Deities will be offered Anna prasadam till Bahuda Day on 15th July 2024 at Gundicha Temple.
The entire arrangements of the Rath Yatra Festival was well managed and neatly executed by the members of the Organising Committee like Dr Siba Senapati, Rekha Senapati, Siba Ranjan Biswal, Bishnu Dash, Bibek Babu, Jeeban Panigrahi, Sudhakar Sahoo, Reshma Mohapatra, Surendra Nath Acharya and Prabhat Singh. The Organisers expressed their gratitude towards Manchester council, Manchester Police and Highways Authorities for their unstinted support and overwhelming co – operation to make this year’s car Festival a massive success.
