The three chariots of the Trinity amid a sea of humanity on Grand Road in Puri on Wednesday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Inclement weather today prevented the chariots of Lord Jagannath and Goddess Subhadra from reaching Gundicha temple.

However, Balabhadra’s Taladhwaja, which was pulled first, made it to the destination by 7pm.

The chariot pulling will resume on Thursday morning.

“Though the rituals were completed on time and the chariots rolled on schedule, heavy rain and difficulties in steering the chariots through turns on the path led to the delay. Following tradition, the chariots are not pulled after sunset. Jagannath’s Nandighosha is stationed near Mausi Maa temple and that of Subhadra’s at Medical Chowk. Both will be pulled from 9am tomorrow,” said temple public relations officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda.

Last year too, the Holy Trinity had not been able to reach their destination on time and had to be pulled the following morning.

He said a servitor pulling the Nandighosha was severely injured today as the chariot lurched to the left. The servitor is undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

Bhramara Bhoi, who is in his 40s, has fractured his left leg. “He suffered serious injuries and had been admitted to a local hospital but the temple chief administrator Arvind Padhee decided to shift him to Cuttack,” he said.

According to official figures, 29 devotees, who fainted following heat stroke, were admitted to Puri district headquarters hospital.

A blazing sun coupled with high humidity levels resulted in discomfort with the maximum temperature today being recorded at 34 degrees Celsius.

However, it turned cloudy after the chhera pahanra (sweeping of chariot floors) by Puri King Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb and later gave way to heavy showers that lasted for nearly two hours.

However, rituals were conducted smoothly with nearly nine lakh devotees turning up for the grand event.

Religious fervour reached a pitch with beats of gongs, cymbals and drums resonating in the area.

While kirtan troupes from various parts of the country kept the devotional frenzy on a high, quite a few devotees dressed up as mythological characters to express their affection for the deities.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, governor S.C. Jamir, Orissa High Court Chief Justice C. Nagappan and numerous other political figures and eminent personalities turned up to witness the event.

The chhera pahanra was preceded by pahandi, the procession in which the divine siblings were brought out of the temple’s sanctum sanctorum and carried on to their respective chariots.

While elder brother Balabhadra was the first one to be carried to Taladhwaja, sister Subhadra and Lord Jagannath followed in that order.

Earlier in the day, the temple chief administrator urged devotees not to climb on to the chariots and delay the rituals. “We also asked unauthorised persons to alight from the chariots and told them that we would use force if they did not comply with the direction,” said Padhee.

However, servitors were seen helping people not only climb up the mounts but also touch the idols.

“We were just following an age-old tradition. After all, rath yatra is the only time when the Lord comes out of his abode to give darshan to his followers, irrespective of their religion, caste or creed. As it is, the temple administration had agreed to allow us to carry on with this tradition,” said the chief servitor of Lord Jagannath, Jagannath Swain Mohapatra.

Security had been stepped up in the entire town, especially in the wake of serial bomb blasts at Bodhgaya on July 7. No untoward incident had been reported.

“There was no specific input with regard to any attack on rath yatra but we had made elaborate security arrangements just as in previous years. We deployed anti-terrorist squads, cops in plain clothes and sonic closed-circuit television cameras. We had also requested the coast guard to stay on alert,” said director-general of police Prakash Mishra.