Puri: Amid chants of Hari Bol and Jay Jagannath, pulling of Chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra began little ahead of the schedule. With the pulling of three chariots, Juggernaut started rolling in the Grand Road here.
The Holy Trinity started their nine-day journey to Sri Gundicha temple on the scheduled time.
All rituals, starting from Pahandi Bije of the three deities, to Chhera Panhara of the annual Rath Jatra completed much before the scheduled time and in a very high spiritual atmosphere.
Nearly 10 Lakh devotees present here in Holy Town to witness the Cultural Festival.
Adorned with tahias (giant floral crowns), chants of Hari Bol and Jay Jagannath, the three deities along with Lord Sudarsan were brought out of the sanctum sanctorum in the Dhadi Pahandi procession to their chariots parked before Srimandir.
Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati accompanied by his disciples and servitors offered prayers to the deities on their respective chariots.
Following this ritual, Gajapati Maharaja of Puri, Dibyasingh Deb arrived in his royal palanquin and carried out the Chhera Panhara ritual, the ceremonial sweeping of the chariots with a golden broom, amid chanting of hymns by the priests.
Pulling of the three gigantic chariots by the servitors was started around 3.04 pm. Taladhwaja of Lord Balabhadra was pulled first followed by Darpadalana of Devi Subhadra and Nandighosa of Lord Jagannath. The Pahandi ritual at Shree Gundicha Temple will be held tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, four devotees were injured in a stampede-like situation that occurred during pulling of the chariots at Marichikot Chhak on the Bada Danda. The injured persons have been shifted to district headquarters hospital for treatment.
Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw visited Puri to witness the Rath Jatra.
Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena, Chief Administrator SJTA Ranjan Kumar Das, District Collector Samarth Verma and others coordinated the entire celebrations.
More than 180 platoons of police personnel, including 1,000 officers of various ranks are deployed in and around Puri to ensure safe conduct of the festival. The State Police made special arrangements for smooth flow of traffic, thanks to Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur.
State Police engaged scores of jawans, armed policeme, while CCTV cameras have been installed at various places across the town.
