June 30: All rituals of the Holy Trinity were carried out smoothly on the second day of rath yatra festival in Puri. The three chariots that reached Gundicha temple yesterday well in time, housed the deities for the whole day on Monday.

The pahandi, or carrying of deities inside the temple from the chariot, was performed late in the night.

All rituals such as “dhoopa”, “alatis” and the “bhoga” were performed for the three deities on their respective raths. “The servitors first woke the deities up with Mangala Alati just like everyday and then followed that with the rest of the chores.

Throughout the day, the deities are offered food four times after different “dhoopas”. All of these were presented to the sibling deities on the chariots today, as is the tradition,” said Jagannath temple public relations officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda.

The only difference in the rituals within temple and on chariot was that the deities were given only dry food items here.

“It is not allowed to feed deities with “anna” (rice) or preparations such as dal and curries. They are only given fruits and korakhai along with grated coconut,” said Ramachandra Das Mohapatra, one of the chief servitors.

The tradition of carrying the deities into the Gundicha temple after the evening ritual of “Sandhya dhoopa” was also observed later. The evening prayers concluded around 6pm. Then the horses were relieved from the chariots and the slope path way or “charmala” to enter the chariot was tied.

Devotees kept peace and without complain or any protest, calmly got the “darshan” and were happy to see a glimpse of the deities from the ground.

“The deities were clearly visible if one stood in front of the chariot. There was no problem in viewing them. That glimpse on the chariot is enough to get their blessings and bring peace to the mind,” said Sourabh Mohanty, a teacher from Cuttack.

From Tuesday onwards, till the bahuda yatra, lakhs of devotees will visit the deities on the Adapa Mandap, since it is believed to be the altar where the idols of the deities were constructed. Devotees feel viewing Lord Jagannath along with his siblings here is very auspicious. “It is only possible for a few days in a year to worship the deities here. It is therefore very special,” said Nirmala Bhuyan, a devotee from Nayagarh.