Bhubaneswar, March 27: Braving the scorching sun, over a lakh devotees turned up at Old Town to attend the annual Rukuna rath yatra held to mark Ashokashtami.

The ritual of pulling the chariot, however, started more than an hour late at 5.15pm and it was stopped near Badheibanka Square after sunset. It will again be pulled tomorrow morning.

'Some rituals delayed the chariot pulling process. However, barring that everything went smooth,' said a member of the temple administration.

The bronze images of three deities - Chandrasekhar (the representative of lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva - were taken out of the temple after all the rituals were performed and placed on the 35-feet high chariot parked outside the shrine amid loud beating of gongs, blowing of conchs and chanting of hymns.

After the chariot started moving, a large number of devotees started walking with it. While many of them lend their hand at pulling the chariot draped in yellow, red, white and blue cloth, thousands of them witnessed the event from terraces and balconies of buildings located on both sides of the Rath Road.

'I was waiting for this moment from last year. The Rukuna rath yatra has its own charm and pulling the chariot gives me immense pleasure. Last year, I could not pull it as I was outside the state,' said Manmath Sahu, a resident.

This festival precedes the world famous car festival of Lord Jagannath at Puri observed in June or July every year.

Priests at the Lingaraj temple said the Rukuna festival is older than the Puri car festival.

The preparation for the rath yatra started last evening with the neta ustav (flag ceremony) when the chariot was ceremonially purified by the priests and a flag was fixed on the top of it. The chariot was washed with water from the Marichi kunda. Water from this well was auctioned with the first pot of water being sold at Rs 41,000.

Fifteen platoons of police were deployed at various places to control the crowd. Besides, closed circuit television cameras were also installed to keep a watch on the devotees. The temple administration, along with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, had also arranged drinking water for the devotees.