 "Over a million throng Rath Yatra at Puri")
Rath Yatra at Puri began today amid tight security as over a million visitors thronged the holy city to witness the grand annual ritual, which has already drawn controversy this year because of tussle between Puri seer and servitors of the temple over traditional practices.
Governor S C Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan were among the VVIPs to watch the festival.
According to the last reports, the three chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddress Subhadra have reached Saradhabali, near Gundicha temple, the final destination about 3 Km away from the main temple. The deities will remain in Gundicha temple till the return Car Festival nine days after.
This morning, the traditional temple rituals pertaining to installation of the deities on the chariots were two hours behind the schedule. The chariot pulling, which began at 3.40 pm, was 40 minutes late.
The servitors, who are sore over the High Court order denying climbing of devotees on to the chariots to touch the idols following a dictate of Puri Gobardhan Pitha Sankaracharya to this effect, cooperated with the completion of the rituals.
The three chariots began their journey after the traditional sweeping ceremony by King of Puri, Divya Singh Dev.
The police took extra care to guard the chariots. Around 113 platoons of security forces including police force, anti-security squad, special operation group and rapid action force maintained the security in and around the chariots as well as each entry points of the town.
The state government took extra care for the peaceful conduct of this grand festival based on prior threat perceptions issued by the Central government agencies. The state home department had deployed 104 platoons of police force, 9 superintend of police (SP), 9 additional SP, 40 DSP, 50 inspectors, 400 constables and 2000 home guards. Besides, 50 CCTV cameras were installed to monitor activities of the visitors on the Grand Road.
Even as the Car Festival progressed without hiccups, the controversy related to Puri Shankaracharya sprung up again as the seer, breaking a age old practice did not visit the chariots.
Reacting to the request of temple administration to visit the chariots alone, the seer had announced that he will not attend the ceremony this year.
Ahead of the Car Festival today, Union minister of state and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dharmendra Pradhan met the Shankaracharya and persuaded him to visit the chariots. But the seer did not change his mind.
"Till now, I have remained silent over the situation while acting on my conscience. Every reaction has a reaction. The state government has no guts to take any action against me. If it takes any action, it would face the consequences from tomorrow," the seer told after his meeting with Pradhan today.
The controversy of allowing of devotees to ride the chariots has snowballed into a major controversy with temple administration, the servitors and the Sankaracharya each claiming rights to exercise their say over rituals. As the government agreed to Shankaracharya's suggestion of not allowing devotees to chariots, the servitors group persuaded the government not to allow Shankaracharya to come to the chariots citing provisions mentioned in the Record of Rights.
Governor S C Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan were among the VVIPs to watch the festival.
According to the last reports, the three chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddress Subhadra have reached Saradhabali, near Gundicha temple, the final destination about 3 Km away from the main temple. The deities will remain in Gundicha temple till the return Car Festival nine days after.
This morning, the traditional temple rituals pertaining to installation of the deities on the chariots were two hours behind the schedule. The chariot pulling, which began at 3.40 pm, was 40 minutes late.
The servitors, who are sore over the High Court order denying climbing of devotees on to the chariots to touch the idols following a dictate of Puri Gobardhan Pitha Sankaracharya to this effect, cooperated with the completion of the rituals.
The three chariots began their journey after the traditional sweeping ceremony by King of Puri, Divya Singh Dev.
The police took extra care to guard the chariots. Around 113 platoons of security forces including police force, anti-security squad, special operation group and rapid action force maintained the security in and around the chariots as well as each entry points of the town.
The state government took extra care for the peaceful conduct of this grand festival based on prior threat perceptions issued by the Central government agencies. The state home department had deployed 104 platoons of police force, 9 superintend of police (SP), 9 additional SP, 40 DSP, 50 inspectors, 400 constables and 2000 home guards. Besides, 50 CCTV cameras were installed to monitor activities of the visitors on the Grand Road.
Even as the Car Festival progressed without hiccups, the controversy related to Puri Shankaracharya sprung up again as the seer, breaking a age old practice did not visit the chariots.
Reacting to the request of temple administration to visit the chariots alone, the seer had announced that he will not attend the ceremony this year.
Ahead of the Car Festival today, Union minister of state and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dharmendra Pradhan met the Shankaracharya and persuaded him to visit the chariots. But the seer did not change his mind.
"Till now, I have remained silent over the situation while acting on my conscience. Every reaction has a reaction. The state government has no guts to take any action against me. If it takes any action, it would face the consequences from tomorrow," the seer told after his meeting with Pradhan today.
The controversy of allowing of devotees to ride the chariots has snowballed into a major controversy with temple administration, the servitors and the Sankaracharya each claiming rights to exercise their say over rituals. As the government agreed to Shankaracharya's suggestion of not allowing devotees to chariots, the servitors group persuaded the government not to allow Shankaracharya to come to the chariots citing provisions mentioned in the Record of Rights.