Bhubaneswar, May 25: As the 21-day special rituals of Chapa Khela or water sports of the divine representatives of Lord Jagannath and his siblings concluded in Puri on Wednesday evening, teary-eyed devotees who weave floral crowns for the deities make up their minds to wait for another year for the festival.

These devotees believe that creating the tahia or crown of flowers for this special occasion is a way of offering their love to the lord.

Female devotees of various age groups get together to craft the tahia during the Chandan Yatra every year. The tahias are prepared at the residence of Abadhuta Charan Patnaik in Daitapada Sahi of the holy town.

“During the 21-day Chandan Yatra, when Lord Madan Mohan (the representative of Lord Jagannath) arrives with his consorts at the Narendra pond for a boat ride in the evening, the deities adorn special garments and flowers. For the last 53 years, we have been preparing the tahias the deities adorn.

“Many of our relatives and other female devotees are involved in this intricate craft of creating the floral crown,” says Patnaik.

The specific flowers used to craft the tahia are collected by Patnaik from a number of nearby private gardens at dawn. The women, after taking bath, arrive at the venue, wearing chaste clothes. They sew jackfruit leaves together and create intricate patterns of designs using flowers such as juhi, malli, champa, boula, ashoka, gendu and so on.

“Preparing the tahia is a very delicate process and, that is why, only women are allowed to do the job. Moreover, only those, who know the procedure to sew leaves together carefully, can join in. Most of the women who weave it are the ones who have observed the process over the years,” says Renu Mohanty, who comes down from Delhi for the task.

“It is a gift from us to the Lord. We get immense pleasure to get the opportunity to create the tahia. We make sure that a fresh tahia reaches the temple by the scheduled time every evening during the Chapa Khela.

“We will also send a tahia for some rituals on Thursday. Then, it will be a long wait of another full year until we can again pay floral tribute to the lord,” she adds.

Three to four women join in everyday to prepare the special crown, while others give as much time as possible after their daily chores. It takes them more than six hours to prepare the tahia. Most weavers who come to create the tahia are of the age group of 20 to 60.

“The tahia that the women devotees make is created just with flowers and leaves. It is amazing how they make ready a fresh tahia everyday for the evening’s Chapa Khela, which is an honorary service by them,” says a servitor of Lord Jagannath, who adorns the deities during the occasion.