Idols of the holy trinity being sold in Puri on Tuesday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Bhubaneswar, July 5: The ritual procession (pahandi bije) of Lord Jagannath and his siblings for entering the Sri Gundicha temple finally began around 8.30pm today.

The deities, who are expected to enter the Sri Gundicha temple late in the night, were stuck on their chariots for nearly 48 hours following a fracas in the wake of a lathicharge by the police in which some sevayats and devotees were injured.

The sevayats had stopped all rituals and refused to carry out pahandi. The deadlock was broken after the administration intervened and assured them that such incidents would not recur.

However, though the sevayats agreed to pahendi bije, they did not allow the special armed police force, responsible for the lathicharge, into the inner cordon. Only the Jagannath Temple Police (JTPS) personnel were allowed to be present inside the cordon.

Earlier, Puri king Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb and chief minister Naveen Patnaik requested the servitors to cooperate and start the pahendi bije. The deities were on the chariots at Sri Gundicha temple since Sunday evening when they reached there from their abode at Sri Jagannath temple, two kilometres away.

Earlier, it was scheduled that the deities would enter to the temple on Monday evening. However, the servitors did not cooperate with the administration alleging police atrocities on them. The servitors went on a virtual strike after the incident. At least 30 persons including 20 servitors were injured when police lathicharged to control the swelling crowds trying to climb atop Nandighosh, the chariot of Lord Jagannath.

In protest, the servitors took away the ladders (charmal) from the chariots and the devotees were unable to climb on to the chariots to get a glimpse of the Lord and his siblings. However, it gave the servitors an opportunity to earn quick bucks. Some charged Rs 10 from the devotees climb atop the chariots. However, the senior servitors tried their best to bring the situation under control. Senior servitor Jagannath Das Swain Mohapatra alias Jaguni said: “ We feel sorry for the entire episode.”

In order to bring back normalcy, the state government had suspended four policemen on Monday for their alleged highhandedness. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said: “Action has been initiated against four police personnel. I do hope the pahendi procession will soon begin.”

Puri Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb urged the sevayats to cooperate and take the Lords from the chariots to the temple. “However, an administrative inquiry should be ordered on this issue,” said the king.

On the other hand, Police Sepahi and Constable Association’s Padmanabha Behera alleged that it was the servitors who were at fault. “The sevayats tried to take the devotees atop the chariot illegally and when the police tried to stop them, the servitors protested. Agitated over the issue, a servitor broke a coconut on the head of a policeman, which led to the commotion,” Behera said.

However, he said the association condemned the police action against the servitors.