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More than seven lakh witness rath yatra

M I Khan in Puri

More than seven lakh devotees and tourists gathered at this pilgrim city on Monday morning to witness the world famous chariot festival, or rath yatra, which happens to be the millennium's first .

A sea of humanity waited patiently along the wide avenue in front of the 12th century Lord Jagannath temple for a glimpse of the presiding deities of the shrine -- Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra, when they were ceremonially taken out of their abode and installed atop three colourfully decorated chariots amid frenzied scenes.

Considered the biggest event in Orissa, it has drawn thousands of devotees and foreign tourists.

Scores of sevayats performed rituals since early morning, readying the idols for the rhythmic swaying of deities to the tune of songs and the ringing of bells, as they were taken out of the shrine to the chariots.

The gathering chanted praises of Kalia, the local name of Lord Jagannath. The procession rituals, which normally take five hours, were completed ahead of schedule.

It was followed by the traditional sweeping of chariots with a golden broom by the Gajpati Maharaj of Puri .

Then the devotees pulled the gigantic chariots, made by hundreds of artisans over five months. Although the tentative time to pull the chariots was 4 pm, it commenced at about 2 pm, with the early completion of all rituals as per temple traditions.

The three chariots were taken smoothly along the grand Badadanda to Gundicha temple, three km from the Lord Jagannath temple, where the chariots reached in the evening without any untoward incident.

Among the lakhs who witnessed the yatra were Governor C Rangarajan, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister of State for Steel Braja Kishore Tripathy, cabinet ministers and several opposition leaders, besides former chief ministers.

Interestingly the song of the pilot of the chariot, banned two years back by the Sevayat Niyogi of the temple, was sung this year.

For the first time too, the wooden umbrellas were replaced by brass ones. The chariots were covered by cloth supplied by mills from Gujarat, instead of the Orissa Textile Mill, which was hit by last year's super cyclone.

The state administration made elaborate security arrangements and deployed over 400 police officers. Like last year, a bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs were pressed into service.

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