Bahuda yatra of Lord Baldevjew in Kendrapara. Telegraph picture

Spiritual fervour reached its peak as Lord Baldevjew with brother Jagannath and sister Subhadra began their homeward journey or the bahuda yatra.

Thousands of devotees witnessed the annual return car festival as the Lords ended their sojourn at Mausimaa temple and marched towards Baldevjew temple.

Baldevjew’s rath yatra in Tulashi Kshetra here draws thousands of devotees from neighbouring districts. The deities here are taken out of the temple in one chariot.

The 72-feet high gigantic chariot with Lord Baldev, brother Jagannath and sister Subhadra is at least 12-feet more than chariots in Puri, said Nrusingha Pati, a sevayat.

The ritual of pahandi — taking the deities out of the temple in a procession — in Kendrapara is different from that of Puri. Deities here are brought to the chariot in a row, while in Puri there is separate pahandi for deities.

Both the car festival and return car festival are observed for two days here while elsewhere, including Puri, it’s only a one-day affair.

With this region having sizeable presence of minority community population, there is congregation of large number of Muslims during the pulling of chariots. Though they are debarred from pulling the chariot, they watch the event on the Grand Road.

For devout Hindus, Tulasi Kshetra is as sacred as Sri Kshetra in Puri, Ekamra Kshetra in Bhubaneswar, Viraja Kshetra in Jajpur and Arka Kshetra in Konark.

Legend has it that when the Mahabharata war began, Balarama remained neutral and set out on a journey of the country. During the course of his journey, he came to Kendrapara region, where the demon Kandarasura was ruling. Balarama killed the demon and threw his limbs at various places. The spot where his body fell in Kendrapara came to be known as Balagandi.

The Lord had married to Kandarasura’s daughter Tulasi and named the place as Tulasi Kshetra.