Four-year-old twins Ashutosh Das Mohapatra and Abhisek Das Mohapatra in Puri. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Puri, June 30: Twins Ashutosh Das Mohapatra and Abhisek Das Mohapatra are like any other children of their age. But come rath yatra, and the four-year-old twins undergo a transformation that makes other kids their age hold them in awe. The brothers who hail from the Daitapati clan, forget studies and turn servitors of the Lord.

The siblings, who are LKG students at Tapoban Adarsh School, enjoy every moment of the nine-day festival.

During pahandi (carrying the idols to the chariots), they sprinkle holy water on the security personnel from Devadalan, the chariot of Goddess Subhadra.

Ramchandra Pratihari, a Class IX student of Blessed Sacrament High School, Puri, is also happy having learnt the rituals conducted for the holy Trinity.

“We are not allowed to perform the services till we are 18, but until we attain that age, we learn about the different services of the deities. The Pratiharis are the servitors inside Jagannath temple.”

On how they strike a balance between serving the Lord during the festival and their studies, Pratihari says: “During the nine-day festival and occasions like suna besa (ornamentation of the deities with gold) and niladri bije (return of the deities to the Jagannath temple from the chariots), the atmosphere in the city is buoyant, almost as if it’s an extended holiday. There is no pressure to study.”

Binayak Suar, a Class X student of Biswambar Bidyapitha, Puri, also feels that rath yatra is the best time of the year for boys like him. He finds no parallel with the massive crowds, chanting of the Lord’s name and continuous singing of bhajans during this period.

At Jagannath temple, all the services rendered by the servitors are traditionally managed by individual families.

For centuries these families have been maintaining the services and their children are undergoing training in conducting the rituals. The services of these families have been defined in the record of rights of the temple.