Pilgrims Get Inkling of Lord's Affluence

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Photos: Sampradaya Sun
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Jul 22, 2010 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — It was a ‘divine' exhibition of opulence that put the police administration on its toes. Gun-toting cops virtually took siege of the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, ostensibly to thwart any attack on the Deities, who put up huge quantities of gold ornaments on the occasion of Suna Besha on Thursday.

Holding AK-47 and machine guns in hand, the armed security personnel occupied the vantage locations around the chariots. With binoculars, they were keeping a vigilant eye on suspicious characters amid a milling crowd. Around 100 sharpshooters stood guard on rooftops around the chariots, parked right in front Jagannath Temple.

The chariots had reached the venue on Wednesday on the occasion of Bahuda Yatra (return car festival). "Even though we did not receive any threat, but such precautionary measures were taken to avoid any untoward incidents," said Puri SP, Sanjay Kumar. "We were alert to the situation. Sniffer dogs too were pressed into service and high frequency CCTV cameras were installed at strategic locations," Kumar told.

As many as 90 platoons of police force were mobilised for the smooth-sail of Suna Besha on Thursday as against some 74-odd platoons deployed on Rath Yatra on July 13, sources said. Nearly 6 platoons of RAF (rapid action force) were stationed for the ‘wealthy' show on Thursday.

The temple town was packed tight as devotees queued up for several hours to catch a glimpse of the ‘golden' avatar of the sibling Deities aboard their respective chariots. Among those in long queue were some curious foreign tourists, who braved the mad rush to view the gold-clad Deities on chariots.

Since non-Hindus are not allowed to enter Jagannath Temple, they do not get a chance to see the Lord in golden attire during other festive occasions inside the shrine, so they seized the opportunity to watch the Suna Besha on chariots outside the temple.

"I came to know about the Suna Besha from newspapers today. I was excited to see it. I do not mind standing in long queue," said Tokunga Maya, a woman tourist from Japan. She came to watch Suna Besha along with her friends, Inomoto Ai, Ito Yusuke and Iizuka Taku, all from Japan.

"We watched Rath Yatra and Bahuda Yatra as well and enjoyed a lot. So we decided to explore Suna Besha as well," Taku said.

It may be recalled that a group of Japanese females were allegedly molested in the crowd during Rath Yatra in July, 2008. "But we have been taking maximum care of our tourists since that unsavoury incident. The tourists enjoyed Rath Yatra and Bahuda Yatra in a hassle-free manner. The security arrangement was good," said owner of Hotel Santana, Srimanta Kumar Dash.

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Barricades were erected to allow pilgrims to go on queue up to the chariots. Keeping in mind the stampede, involving the death of a woman during pulling of chariots on Rath Yatra on July 13, police claimed to have taken further steps to control the crowd.

"We took adequate steps for the smooth flow of pilgrims up to the chariots. Unlike Rath Yatra and Bahuda, we made queue system for Suna Besha. So there was absolutely no chance of any stampede or near-stampede situations during the besha," the district police chief said.

Temple officials claimed that the Suna Besha started according to schedule. According to most the recent reports, the Suna Besha proceeding was smooth and incident-free.

Earlier on Thursday morning, the temple's Chief Administrator, Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra told media persons that "huge responsibility lies on the shoulders of priests, who should complete the rituals in scheduled time".