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The seaside pilgrim town Puri is all set for smooth conduct of Lord Jagannath’s annual Rath Yatra festival which will be a two-day affair from July 7 in 53 years.
Today’s News :
Along with lakhs of devotees, President Droupadi Murmu is also scheduled to witness the Rath Yatra on Sunday. The state government has made special arrangements for her visit.
Officials said that the Odisha government has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the festival which usually is organized in a single day. Some celestial arrangements have made it a two-day event which was last held for two days in 1971.
In a departure from tradition, some of the rituals related to the festival involving three sibling deities – Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra – will also be held in a single day on Sunday.
The chariots have been parked in front of the Lion’s Gate of the Jagannath temple from where they would be taken to Gundicha temple where the Raths will stay for a week.
The chariots will be pulled by devotees on Sunday afternoon.
This year, the Rath Yatra, and related rituals like ‘Nabajouban Darshan’ and ‘Netra Utsav’ will be conducted in a single day – July 7. These rituals are generally held ahead of the Rath Yatra.
Nabajouban Darshan’ means youthful appearance of deities, who were behind the doors for 15 days, called ‘Anasara’ (quarantine), after ‘Snana Purnima’.
According to mythology, the deities fall ill due to excess bathing on ‘Snana Purnima’ and therefore remain indoors.
Prior to ‘Nabajouban Darshan’, the priests performed the special ritual called ‘Netra Utsav’ in which the eyeballs of the deities are painted afresh.
Meanwhile, the state government has made elaborate arrangements for smooth and timely conduct of the annual festival.
“With the cooperation from all stakeholders, all the rituals are going on smoothly. With the blessings of Lord Jagannath, all other rituals will also be conducted according to schedule,” Puri Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain said.