Bhubaneswar, June 23: It is rath yatra time and the entire city of Puri seems to be in a hurry. The hurriedness is not just confined to the streets, but also the numerous monasteries, better known as mutts, in and around Puri.

Of around 400 mutts in Puri, more than 100 are actively associated with rath yatra. The well-known mutts are Raghav Das mutt, Jhanjapita mutt, Bada Odiya mutt, Uttarparsva mutt, Radhakanta mutt, Gangamata mutt, Badachhata mutt, Emar mutt, Kataki mutt, Gopal Tirtha mutt and Jagannath Ballav mutt.

While some of these mutts provide tahiya, mandi, adharpana and clothes for different veshas (attires) of the deities, others provide sandalwood paste and various food items used for the Lord’s bhog. All these mutts also provide shelter to devotees and sadhus coming from far-off places.

Raghav Das mutt, located in front of the south gate of the Jagannath temple, makes the tahiya, the Lord’s crown, out of slender bamboo sticks, sola, rangani flower and a natural gum.

“Besides, our mutt also performs the decoration of haathi vesha (elephant form) of Lord Jagannath and Subhadra,” said Anam Chandra Dalei, executive officer of Raghav Das mutt.

Jhanjapita mutt organises a vaishnav samilani four days before the festival. “One day before the rath yatra, we wash the Gundicha temple. We also perform kirtan in front of the chariots before the lords enter into their aunt’s temple at Gundicha,” said Sachidanand Das, head of Jhanjapita mutt.

Bada Odia mutt offers the Lord phuluri tel, a special type of oil used for the gupt seva (secret ritual) of the lords.

Uttarparsva mutt performs the alat chamar seva and provides a silver handle of the alat, the traditional hand fan, which is used during pahandi.

Govardhan mutt, the oldest mutt in Puri, is the final authority for performing all the rituals at the Jagannath temple. The mutt looks after all the rituals of the temple and offers prasadam to the deities during the festival.

Emar mutt, which is located in front of the singha dwara of the Jagannath temple, offers canopy to the temple and costumes of the Lord during the festival.

Bansidhar Das Goswami, the head priest of the Bada Odia mutt said that after akshya tritiya the mutts become active till the niladri bije when the lords return to their abode after the chariot festival.

“Though we are associated with various activities throughout the year, our main work happens during rath yatra,” said Narayan Ramanuj Das, head of Uttareswar mutt.