Rath Yatra… the Night Before

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Jul 13, 2010 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — Puri is all set to witness rath yatra on Tuesday. All arrangements have been made to the tee. The millennia-old annual festival is billed as one of the world's longest surviving public celebration. Even though a host of places on the earth observe the annual festivity with equal elan, the Rath Yatra at Puri is still the transcendental show stealer.

Talks are doing the rounds that Indian Air Force helicopters will shower flower petals on the chariots for the first time. But Puri additional superintendent of police (ASP), Pratap Mohanty said, "Nothing has been finalised. Our higher officials will take the decision".

Significantly, controversy had cropped up when a chopper of a private company showered flowers on devotees and chariots on Rath Yatra few years ago. Clothes and decoration of the chariots became untidy as the chopper was flying over a close distance from the chariots. That had enraged the priests, who demanded a ban on such ‘air' shows.

Meanwhile, more than 8 lakh pilgrims from across the country and abroad are likely to set their feet on the hallowed city to have a glimpse of the presiding Deities—Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra—being pulled along the Grand Road on three colorful chariots, festooned with flowers, appliqué and mural paintings.

The pulling of the chariots is scheduled to start at 4 pm where the triad Hindu Deities will go on leave to Gundicha Temple, about 3 kilometers from the 12th century shrine.

Amidst a pompous procession, which will start at around 9.30 am, the Deities will be brought from the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine to the chariots. But prior to that, in early morning, around three puspalaka priests along with some other servitors will brush the teeth of the Deities with a stick of baula (a tree) and camphor (as toothpaste). A gold-plated utensil be will used to cleanse the tongues of the Deities, who will then be dressed with cotton clothes (patani and boirani) of two colours, red and blue, sources said.

After a set of other rituals, the Deities will be served with more than twenty types of sumptuous delicacies before getting set for the journey to Gundicha Temple. According to temple sources, at around 9.30 am, daitapati priests will start ferrying the Deities from the sanctum sanctorum onto the chariots in a ceremonial procession, called pahandi. The cumbersome task of ferrying the three giant timber idols on shoulders will continue for nearly three hours.

"The Deities will be worn with new clothes (pata) after they are installed on the chariots. Lord Balabhadra will wear cloth of rainbow color, Jagannath and Subhadra will wear clothes of yellow and red, respectively," said Rabindranath Pratihari, a senior priest.

Pulling of the chariots will start around 4 pm, nearly one hour after the traditional sweeping (chhera pahanra) ritual performed by Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb on the deck of the chariots.

A staggering Rs 1.20 crore was earmarked for this year's Rath Yatra. Last year, the Rath Yatra budget stood at Rs 1.05 crore, sources said. According to sources, around Rs 30 lakh was spent for the making of wooden chariots. "The amount was also used to purchase coir ropes to pull the chariots, clothes for decoration of the cars and payment to the workers among other things," said a temple official.

According to sources, nearly Rs 3 lakh was spent for buying nearly 16 pieces of coir ropes (each rope 200 ft long and 9 inch width) from Kerala Coir Corporation. Similarly, colorful cotton clothes for covering the chariots have been bought from Ahmedabad at the cost of nearly Rs 2 lakh. This year, nearly Rs 30,000 have been earmarked for beautifying the chariots with the famous appliqué work of Pipili, which is about 40 km from Puri.

A total of 150 people, including carpenters and their assistants, were assigned for the chariot making, which took nearly two months to finish. Twenty sculptors were busy carving beautiful handiworks on different sides of the chariots. Eight tailors were working ten hours a day for stitching the decorative clothes. A number of painters were engaged to paint the chariot.

"This is no doubt a big task of making preparations for the car festival," said Laxmidhar Pujapanda, temple's public relations officer

Security too has been increased in and around the temple. As many as 74 platoons of police force, including anti-Naxal squads, have already been mobilised for the smooth conduct of Rath Yatra. "Coastguard will deploy its personnel to keep a strict vigilance on marine route of Puri. It would also press into service its choppers for air surveillance," a district police official said.