One and a half million devotees throng Puri to witness Rath Yatra

Two die of suffocation as crowds jostle to get glimpse of renewed deities

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All roads today led to Puri as nearly 1.5 million devotees thronged the holy town in coastal Odisha to witness the Rath Yatra of three revered deities, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, following the first Nabakalebar of this millennium.

Nabakalebar signifies change of wooden idols of the deities that takes place in 12-19 years when two lunar months of Asadha fall in a year of the Hindu Almanac. The last Nabakalebar was held in 1996.

Though the event passed off more or less peacefully, two elderly women are reported to have died of suffocation due to huge crowds. Two others were seriously injured in the crowd surge have been admitted to  a hospital, officials said.

This year’s Rath Yatra marked the first public appearance of the deities after they adorned new bodies.

Though the state government expected congregation of five million people for this special occasion and started preparation months ahead under the direct supervision of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the actual footfall at Puri today was much less with many devotees staying back on fear of facing inconvenience because of hype over crowd congregation, sources said.

Besides, controversies over delay in completion of some of the infrastructure projects and irregularities in Brahma Paribartan, a secret ritual observed for transfer of souls of the deities from old bodies to new bodies was also a dampener, they added.

However, the Puri temple administration claimed that this was by far the highest crowd assembly on a Rath Yatra day in last many years.

Earlier, in the day, the deities were brought one after the other in a swaying movement (called Pahandi) from the Jagannath Temple by the priests and servitors amidst the chanting of hymns, beating of cymbals, drums and blowing of conch shells.

After they were placed on their respective chariots, the King of Puri, known as Gajapati, conducted the symbolic sweeping of the Raths before the richly decorated wooden juggernauts started rolling on the Grand Road (Badadanda).

To have a glimpse of the renewed deities, devotees occupied every conceivable place on the three kilometre stretch from Jagannath temple to Gundicha temple, the final destination of the journey where  deities will stay put for nine day before making their return. However, none of the chariots could reach Gundicha Temple by 7 pm when the pulling of chariots was called off.

It may be noted, in preparation of the event, the state government had chalked out Rs 2000 crore plan to upgrade infrastructure facilities like road and rail communication, power and water supply, sanitation and health care.

The administration had also made elaborate safety and security arrangement, particularly in the back drop of Naxal menace in the state and death of 29 people at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh a few day back.

A security blanket was thrown upon the town with the deployment of 164 platoons of police.