The Nabakalebar or divine transition of idols opened floodgates of creativity and faith among artisans in Jamshedpur.

The devout in the steel city will glimpse the new wooden idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan as chariots will roll out to mark Rath Yatra on Saturday.

"We got new idols carved out of neem wood sourced from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha. A special team went to different states to select the trees. We have spent over Rs 50,000 on the new idols," said Sridham Govind Das, Jharkhand head of Iskcon who will be gracing the Jamshedpur Rath Yatra organised by the city chapter of Iskcon.

The team selected two neem trees from Jharkhand that met the specifications for carving out idols of Jagannath and Subhadra while neem trees from Bengal and Odisha were selected for idols of Balabhadra and Sudarshan.

"There are specific features for a neem tree to be selected for different idols, but broadly, the tree should not have bird nest on it, it should be free from creepers and parasites, a snake pit should be present at the root of the tree and there should be some hermitage and cremation grounds nearby. The team took note of these specific features before selecting trees that were brought to the city. Then, artisans carved the wood into idols," said the Iskcon state head.

Old idols are cremated in accordance with rituals mentioned in Hindu scriptures.

Nabakalebar depends on the almanac positions of Hindu calendar and takes place once in every 12 to 19 years.

Usually it is held in that year when the month of Ashadha is followed by another Ashadha.

The previous Nabakalebars took place in the years 1969, 1978 and 1996.

On Saturday, nearly 10,000 devotees are expected to attend the rally, which will begin from Agrasen Bhavan in Sakchi and after traversing about 4km, it will come back to the same spot.

Preparations are also on in full swing at Naga Mandir in Beldih Golf Ground that has been organising Rath Yatra in the city since 1936.

This year, the new idols also made from neem wood have been brought from Puri and the old ones have been buried outside the temple premises.

The chariot from the temple will leave for the mausi bari in the nearby Tulsi Mandir on Saturday. There, it will stay for a week.

A grand fair will be put up at Beldih Golf ground with more than 100 stalls, offering everything from snacks, fun rides, to toys and refreshment, on July 18 and again on July 26.