Rukuna Rath Yatra Draws Huge Crowd

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

Mar 27, 2015 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — Braving the scorching heat, a large number of devotees tugged the chariot of Lord Lingaraj on Rukuna Rath Yatra in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Sans any promotion by the state government, the car festival seemed to have been overshadowed by massive preparations for the much-loved Nabakalebara festival of Lord Jagannath in Puri.

After the routine rituals, bronze images of three Deities—Chandrasekhar (the representative of Lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva—were brought to the chariot amid boisterous procession.

Unlike the Puri Rath Yatra, which is being celebrated in June or July every year, the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Lingaraj is observed on the august occasion of Ashokastami in March or April. While three chariots are used in Puri, the Lingaraj temple Deities traverse in a four-wheeled wooden chariot to Mausima temple.

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

"The chariot pulling exercise started around 5:15 pm. The chariot was halted at Badheibanka Chhak in the evening. The chariot will proceed towards Rameswar or Mausima temple on Saturday," said former temple executive officer Abanikant Pattnaik, who was assigned to look after the festival this time.

The return car festival will be observed on March 31. Rukuna Rath is also called 'analeuta' chariot (the chariot that does not take a turn during the return car festival). Going by the convention, the Rukuna chariot is pulled from the backside without taking a turn on the return car festival. The sitting altar of the Deities is changed on the day of homecoming festival.

Over 30 platoons of police forces were deployed for the smooth conduct of the festival. "The festival was incident-free," said Commissioner of Police R. P. Sharma.

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]