Devotees play wedding music outside the Jagannath temple in Puri on Thursday. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, June 20: Thousands of devotees today flocked to the pilgrim town of Puri to participate in the wedding feast of Goddess Rukmini and Lord Krishna at the Jagannath temple.

The event, which began today and will continue tomorrow, is popularly known as Rukminiharan Ekadashi. It is an important festival held at the 12th century temple. Hindus consider Lord Jagannath to be an incarnation of Lord Krishna.

Rukmini is said to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. The wedding falls on the 11th day of the Odia month Jyestha and the elopement of the two lovers is enacted on the temple premises.

Legend has it that Rukmini, princess of Vidharba, wanted to marry Krishna, but her brother Rukmi, a friend of Kansa, whom the blue-complexioned god had killed, was against it.

Her father, too, believed that Krishna’s cousin Shishupal was a better match. Crestfallen, Rukmini wrote to her beloved to abduct her. However, Shishupal also landed up in Vidharba, hoping to win her hand in marriage.

“Madanmohan, the representative deity of Jagannath, abducts Rukmini from Bimala temple while she is offering her prayers and whisks her away on a chariot. Shishupal reaches with an army and chases the duo. A war ensues, but Krishna wins in the end,” said a temple official.

However, today, devotees thronged the temple for mahaprasad, which was distributed free of cost in the evening. “It is my good luck that I could partake of the temple bhog on such an auspicious occasion,” said Pradeep Kumar from Patna, who was in Puri with his family.

Chariot tussle

The row over allowing devotees to climb atop the chariots of Lord Jagannath and touch his idol during rath yatra will be resolved during a management committee meeting on July 3. While the servitors want the lord to be accessible to his devotees, the temple administration is not in favour.

“However, we have decided that ladders would be fixed for devotees to climb onto the chariots but the issue of touching the idol will be addressed in the July meeting. The daitapati nijog has assured me that only a few authorised servitors would be present on the chariots,” said temple chief administrator Arvind Padhee.