Thousands Pay Obeisance to Deities at Gundicha

Puri, July 19: A day after the millennium’s first Nabakalebra festival of Lord Jagannath commenced here, thousands of devotees had darshan of the new idols of the three deities as their chariots stood in front of Gundicha Temple here Sunday.

As the three colourful chariots, which began their nine-day journey with new idols of LordJagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra from Srimandir, reached Sri Gundicha Temple, the devotees thronged the venue for darshan on the raths.

After all the three chariots positioned themselves outside Gundicha Temple, the Daitapatis performed a number of rituals including the Mailam, Abakasha and Tadap Lagi by 8:30am and devotees made a beeline for darshan.

The chariots of Subhadra and Lord Jagannath which were stranded at Medical Chhak and Bala Gandi on the Grand Road Saturday resumed the journey after the rituals. Pulling of the Darpadalan chariot of Subhadra began at 9am while the Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath was pulled at 9:20am. Both the cars reached Saradhabali near Gundicha temple at 10:30am.

The chariot of Devi Subadhra reached its destination with the police personnel pulling it with the help of devotees.

Later, the car of Jagannath followed it from Balagandi with the chants of ‘Haribol’ among the devotees. Devotees in large numbers queued up to have a darshan of the deities in front of the Mausima temple.

Early in the morning a minor scuffle ensued among some vendors and security personnel who wanted the vendors to clear the path for the procession. Some volunteers were, meanwhile, beaten up by the vendors for asking them to clear the area.