By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/PURI: All customary rituals have been going on smoothly for the world famous Rath Yatra of Shree Lord Jagannath and his Siblings on Friday in Odisha’s pilgrimage city of Puri.
The three Chariots (Rath) namely Nadnighosa, Taladhwaja and Devadalana were pulled from the Rathakhala (car crafting workshop) and parked in front of the Singhadwar (the main entrance) of Jagannath Temple.
Before it, the Agnyamala Bije Niti was performed at the Rathakhala. A group of temple servitors (Daitapatis) worshiped at least two wheels from each chariot fastening the pious garland of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra.
The Pujapanda servitors of Puri Srimandir conducted the ritual on three chariots — Nandighosha, Taladhwaja and Darpadalan — a day before Ratha Jatra of Lord Jagannath in Odisha’s pilgrim city.
The deities will be taken onto their respective chariots on Friday morning after Pahandi (procession). Puri Collector Samartha Verma said, Pahanadi procession will be began by 9.30 am.
Wearing masks was made mandatory for devotees coming to see the annual Rath yatra. The festival of Lord Jagannath this time will see the participation of devotees after two years. In 2020 and 2021, only servitors took part in rituals due to the pandemic.
180 Platoons of Force, 18 SP Rank Officer, 33 Additional SP , 74 DSP, 136 Inspector, 711 SI/ASI, 107 Havildar, 673 Constable, 2008 Home Guards have been deployed for security of devotees.
DGP SK Bansal , Director Intelligence, Sanjib Panda, ADGP(Law and Order) RK Sharma, ADGP Coastal Security and Railways, Dr Sudhansu Sarangi, IGP (Operations), Amitabh Thakur, IGP Central, Narasingh Bhol, IGP Headquarters, S Devadutta Singh, Puri SP Vishal Singh, DIG STF JN Pankaj, DIG SIW Anirudha Singh, DIG Intellegnce, Anup Sahoo, Additional CP Dr Umashankar Dash and others senior officials were among those closely monitoring security arrangement.
