A woman prays in front of a rath and (right) a man carries a basil (tulasi) plant near Gundicha temple on Sunday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Bhubaneswar, July 6: Preparations for tomorrow’s bahuda yatra (return journey) of Lord Jagannath and his siblings are complete. Keeping the high court’s order in view, the administration will ensure that the devotees do not climb the chariots.

Like the car festival day on June 29, the authorities will also ensure that the devotees do not go anywhere near the chariot for security reasons. This means that they would be only allowed to pull the chariots from a distance and will not breach the tight three-tier cordon provided by the police and paramilitary forces.

Temple administration sources said Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb will come to perform the traditional chhera panhara ritual (sweeping the floors of chariots) before the pulling of the chariots. “He is chairman of the temple management committee. We cannot tell him how many persons will accompany him during his visit to the chariots,” said a senior official of the temple administration.

The king was said to have been miffed at the administration’s decision to restrict the number of people accompanying the Puri Shankaracharya. After the administration had made it clear to the seer that he alone should come to the chariots, the Shankaracharya had expressed displeasure and had stayed away from the chariots. The king too had come with a skeletal staff but he alone had climbed the chariots to perform the rituals. According to the tradition of the festival, Shankaracharya does not come for the return festival.

“But the stand-off still continues as the temple officials have not come to discuss the matter,” said spokesperson for the seer Manoj Rath.

The Jagannath temple administration is also not likely to send its officials to invite the seer to bahuda yatra. “It’s a religious matter. Whoever comes, we will certainly be courteous and try to extend all sorts of co-operation for the smooth darshan of the deities. However, the high court’s ruling on the issue will be upheld,” said a senior official of the temple administration.

Director general of police Sanjeev Marik, who took charge today, said: “There is pressure on the police. We will try to ensure that there is a smooth flow of traffic and people have a good darshan of the deities.”

Around 104 platoons of police force will be deployed for tomorrow’s event. Besides, the Coast Guard will be positioned near the Puri sea beach to keep a vigil on the movement of sea vessels.

In another development, representatives of several mutts and temples in Odisha, under the banner of Shree Jagannath Sanskruti Surakhya Mancha, today demanded that the people responsible for insulting the Shankaracharya should be identified and punished. “There should not be restrictions on the Shankarach-arya’s chariot visits during rath yatra,” one of them said.