By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: 46th Rath Yatra Festival celebrated at the main Jagannath Temple of the National capital region at Hauz Khas Village in New Delhi amidst spectacular fanfare and spiritual fervour. Commencing from the wee hours of the day all the religious rituals have been performed in front of the Deities in a pious and solemn atmosphere.
Unusual enthusiasms and unprecedented excitements were witnessed among the 50,000 strong Odia and non Odia spectators gathered here alongwith their family members from Delhi and nearby areas to take part in the Grand Ceremony. The Temple Management Committee did elaborate arrangements to maintain discipline and decorum during the occasion.
At around 12.30 p.m. in the afternoon the Four Deities were taken in Dhadi Pahandi procession to the colourfully decorated chariot stationed at the Grand Road in front of the temple.
The entire atmosphere got 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. Chief Guest Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat undertook the traditional service of sweeping in front of the Chariot called ‘Chherapahanra’. Other dignitaries present during the occasion were Former Secretary of the Temple Committee Duryodhan Pradhan, Director General of IMD Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, local MLA Somnath Bharati, Dr S.K.Jena, Dr Raghab Dash, Kedarnath Tripathy and Suraj Nayak.
The chariot pulling commenced at around 2.30 p.m. in afternoon. The colourful Royal Chariot carrying the Four Deities on board was pulled from Hauz Khas Village Road till 2.5 K.M. away to Ansari Nagar via Shri Aurobindo Marg and then taken back to temple premises in the evening.
The scenes of long lining up of devotees in both sides of the Yatra route to have an auspicious glimpse of the Lord of the Universe, were overwhelming. The acts of throwing of flowers towards the Idols by bystanders and breaking of coconuts in the sidewall of Chariot were just memorable and mesmerising.
After coming back the Deities remained on the chariot for public viewing. In the late night all the four deities were taken in a procession to the makeshift aunt house at the basement of the temple. The Idols will be worshipped at the podium in the Aunt’s House till the Bahuda Yatra on 15th July 2024 as per the information of Temple sources.
The entire arrangements were well managed and smoothly conducted by the office bearers and members of Temple Managing Committee, which include President Bighneshwar Rout, Secretary Ravindra Nath Pradhan, Abhaya Pradhan, Ashok Pradhan (A), Khirod Patra, Gajendra Samanta, Abhiram Sutar, Ashok Pradhan (B), Jitendra Mohapatra, Ajay Pradhan, Pankaj Mohanty, Nishidha Kumar Das, Rankanidhi Sahoo, Bijay Sahoo, Dillip Kumar Swain, Kishore Samal, Amulya Ojha, Sukanta Sahu, Manager of the Temple Rashmiranjan Behera, Assistant Managers Sashikanta Sahoo and Sanjiv Jena and Priests Sanatan Padhi, Debabrata Mishra, Jagabandhu Dash, Premananda Satpathy, Santosh Panda and Prashant Dash.
