Bhubaneswar, April 4: Devotees from all over the state and outside were in town today to celebrate Rukuna rath yatra.
Debbani Bhattacharya, a tourist from Bengal, was happy to be among the sea of devotees.
Along with her family members, Debbani pulled the chariot as it rolled down the road from the 11th century Lingaraj Temple on the occasion of Ashokasthami.
"I feel the festival is a perfect prelude to the upcoming rath yatra in Puri. I have attended the chariot festival of Lord Jagannath and I got similar feelings of devotion here," she said.
The beats of mardala and ghantua resonated with cheers from the devotees as the four-wheeled 35-feet high chariot, draped in yellow, red, white and blue cloth, rolled down the road called ratha danda. A fair was held near the Mausima temple.
The ritual of pulling the chariot was delayed and began at 4.40pm. Consequently, it was stopped at Tinimundia Square after sunset. It will be pulled again from 3pm tomorrow to reach Mausima temple.
After elaborate rituals, bronze images of three deities - Chandrasekhar (the representative of Lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva - were installed on the chariot parked outside the shrine.
"Some rituals delayed the chariot pulling process. Apart from that, everything went well. We had made elaborate arrangements for the devotees to ensure that the scorching sun did not affect them," said the executive officer of Lingaraj Temple trust Manoranjan Panigrahi.
The uniqueness of Rukuna rath is that it does not "take a turn" unlike the chariots at Puri rath yatra. "After a five-day sojourn when the deities return to their abode the chariot is pulled from behind. It is therefore called analeuta (the chariot that does not take a turn)," said Manohar Barik, a septuagenarian resident of Old Town.
Devotees from Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Khurda and other places turned up for the festival.
Folklore say that on this day, Sita in the Ramayan offered Ashoka flowers to the gods while she was confined in the Ashoka forest by demon king Ravan.
Preparations for the rath yatra had begun yesterday with neta uchhaba (flag ceremony) when the chariot was ceremonially purified by the priests and a flag was fixed on the top of the chariot. The chariot was washed with holy water from a well called Marichi Kunda.
Then, the water was auctioned with the first pot of water being sold at Rs 1,05,000. It is believed that infertile women can conceive after bathing with this water on this auspicious day.
Fifteen platoons of police were deployed at various places to control the crowd. The cops had blocked the approach roads to the temple and closed-circuit television cameras were installed to keep a watch on the devotees. A number of water kiosks were also set up.
Puri rath yatra
The first log to be used in building chariots for the Puri rath yatra was cut at the Government Sawmill in Cuttack today.
Ram Navami marks the beginning of the process to cut the logs that are then shaped into the three chariots of Lords Jagannath and Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra.
