Bhubaneswar, July 26: Tears rolled down the cheeks of Lisa Zvefle and Cora Gaebel as the chariot of Lord Jagannath began its return journey to the Puri temple.

The two girls from Germany have arrived in Puri only six months ago, but have developed a strange connection with the Lord.

"We have been witnessing the rituals of the festival starting from the day when the search for the holy daru began. The day we saw the Lord on rath yatra, we discovered a strange devotion for Him. Now that it is our time to go home, we feel extremely sad," said Lisa.

They two students are here, as part of their PhD assignment that ends this month.

Lisa's project topic is the mahaprasad, the holy food of Lord Jagannath and Cora's topic is Nabakalebar. Their attachment with the temple and the Trinity has grown with time. "We take a lot of interest in religious studies and we came to know about the festival from our textbooks. The concept sounded fascinating, so we decided to take up topics related to the Jagannath culture and packed our bags for India," said Cora, a student of University of Cologne.

Both of them seemed to be in awe of the holy town. "We were surprised to know that 56 types of food are offered to the Lord. Moreover, on rath yatra, the feeling when we saw a sea of devotees raising their hands in devotion, all at the same time, was overwhelming," said Lisa from the University of University of Tübingen.

A number of visitors from various countries have come to witness the return car festival.

Vincent Thomasset, who has come from Brussels, was on his way to Calcutta to meet his Indian friend but instead landed in Puri. "I had come to visit some of the prominent destinations in India and had taken out time from my schedule to visit my friend. While talking to him over the phone, I found out about the festival and I could not resist myself. I booked tickets to Puri instead for I knew I would not get the opportunity again," said Vincent, a software programmer.

He landed in Puri this morning and left for Calcutta at night after the bahuda yatra.

"I am fortunate that I listened to my conscience and decided to come here or else I would have regretted all my life," says Vincent. <> "Initially, I could not handle myself in the crowd and did not know what to do. But, the police were quite helpful and arranged a place for me to take shelter. The day was hectic but worth it," he said.