By Our Correspondent
AHMEBABAD: Annual Car Festival was celebrated at the Jagannath Temple situated at Adalaj in Gujarat with much fanfare and spiritual fervour. Hosted by the Temple Management Body Shree Jagannath Cultural Academy and Research Centre (JCARC) the Grand Chariot pulling Ceremony drew unusual enthusiasm and unprecedented excitement among the visitors. Due to the pleasant weather around 20,000 Odia and Non Odia devotees gathered here from Adalaj and nearby areas like Gandhi Nagar, Kalol and Kadi to witness the Mega Religious Event.
Adequate arrangement has been done by the Temple Management Committee under the active stewardship of Member Secretary Dr. Badri Mahapatra to control the crowd and maintain law and order with the support of the Organisers and volunteers. Series of special worshippings have been undertaken before the Idols in the Temple since the wee hours of the Holy Day. Around 9.00 a.m. in the morning the Pahandi Bije of Four Deities to the colourfully decorated 27ft.2inch height chariot stationed infront of the Temple started. The entire atmosphere was reverberated with the recitals of hymns, roaring of slogans like Haribol and Jai Jagannath, sounding of Huluhuli, blowing of conch and playing of musical instruments such as Ghanta, Kartala, Mardala, Jhanja and Mrudanga by the devotees.
The special attraction of the celebration was the Pahandi of Maa Subhadra exclusively carried on by Ladies. Around 9.15 a.m. in the morning the traditional sweeping in front of the chariot called Chherapahanra was performed by Tribal Development Minister of Gujarat Dr Kuber Bhai Dindor. Other distinguished guests present like M.P. Narahari Amin, MLAs Alpesh Thakur and Ritaben Patel helped Dr Dindor in doing the job. At around 9.30 a.m. the pulling of Chariot started. The royal chariot with the Four Deities on the board was pulled by the devotees till 3 KM away to Maa Annapurna Temple and then was taken back to the premises of the Temple at around noon time.
The Mahaprasad was distributed to the participants at Annapurna Temple and the main Adalaj Temple. In the afternoon the Deities were taken back from the chariot in Pahandi and placed at the Pandal of makeshift Aunt’s House located in the Community Hall of the Ground Floor in the Temple. As per the Temple sources the General public can have a view of Gods and Goddess here till the Niladri Bije Day. Prominent personalities from different walks of life will perform Arati before the Deities here in every evening of Nine days. This year’s Festival was supported by the President of World Brahmin Organisation Shasikant Tiwari, Secretary General Deepak Joshi and the Management Committee of Maa Annapurna Temple Trust.
The entire arrangements of Rath Yatra was smoothly conducted by the Trustees, Committee Members of the Temple and functionaries of Orissa Association which include Member Secretary of JCARC and General Secretary of Orissa Association Dr. Badri Mahapatra, President of Orissa Association Harekrushna Dash and Members like Maheshwar Sahu, Dr Nibedita Sahu, Leela Dash, Banchanidhi Pani, Rabi Panda, Ashok Samal, Satya Mishra, Narayan Swain, Ajaya Das, Mahendra Das, Rajesh Samal, Dilip Jena, Rohit Nayak, Nigamananda Das, Dilip Bal, Sandhya Panda and Ganesh Sabat.
