The holy town on Sunday turned into a sea of humanity as around 12 lakh devotees thronged Grand Road to witness rath yatra of Lord Jagannath and his two siblings — brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra.

As the chants of Jai Jagannath rose to the sky and the beating of hundreds of cymbals and gongs worked up a devotional frenzy, the decorated chariots of the deities rolled without a hitch taking them to the Sri Gundicha temple, two kilometres from their 12th century abode, well in time.

The chariot of Lord Balabhadra was the first to reach the temple at 5.10pm followed by the mount of Goddess Subhadra at 5.20pm and that of Lord Jagannath at 6.30pm.

After spending the night on their mounts, the deities would enter Sri Gundicha temple for their nine-day sojourn on Monday morning.

The only untoward incident to take place on a near-perfect rath yatra day was the death of a 61-year-old devotee, who had come from Jagatsinghpur. Though there were allegations that he was killed in a stampede, the administration claimed that it was a case of heart attack. Nearly 80 persons also sustained injuries in the melee at places on the rath yatra route.

Another accident took place at Kamakhya Nagar in Dhenkanal where a 12-year-old boy was killed when the ropes of the chariot snapped while pulling.

Chief administrator of the Puri Jagannath temple Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said: “With cooperation from all devotees and the servitors, we were able to successfully conduct the car festival well ahead of schedule.”

The rituals began early in the morning at 4.30am with mangal aarti. The pahandi bije (the procession where the gods come out of the sanctum sanctorum to ride the chariots) started at 8.45am. Of the three, the idol of Lord Balabhadra was the first to come out followed by Goddess Subhadra and Lord Jagannath amid much fanfare.

However, a stampede-like situation was created when Lord Jagannath’s idol was being carried to his chariot. There was momentary tension in the cordoned area with some of the sevayats standing in front of the three idols blocking view of the devotees.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, governor M.C. Bhandare and other senior leaders witnessed the event from a vantage point. The pahendi bije concluded at 11.20am. However, the devotees had to wait for nearly an hour to witness chhera pahanra (the ceremonial sweeping of the chariots by Puri King Maharaja Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb).

“This is a rare privilege for me to witness the chhera pahenra which shows that even the king is a servant of the Lord. One does not hear of such a custom taking place elsewhere,” said Pankaj Sahu, 72, of Berhampur.

After this ritual the chariots began rolling. Lord Balabhadra’s chariot, Taladhwaja, was the first one to be pulled at 2.10pm.

It was followed by devotees pulling the Debadalana carrying Goddess Subhadra 10 minutes later. Anxiety came to an end when Nandighosha, the mount of Lord Jasgannath, was pulled at 3.10pm.

Although the state had deployed nearly 80 platoons of police force and four companies of the Rapid Action Force, nearly 80 persons sustained injuries in the melee at different points on the yatra route. To thwart any possible terrorist attack, the bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs were also pressed into service. The coastal security was also beefed up.