Jagannath Ratha Yatra Begins Today After 2 Years' Gap

Puri: The famous nine-day-long Jagannath Rath Yatra will commence on Friday nearly after two years.

It will start from 01st July and will end on 12th July. In a bid to avoid any untoward incident during the Yatra, tight security has been put in place.

Notably, devotees are excited as they can now visit the shrine and participate in the Rath Yatra after a gap of two years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, devotees were denied into the holy town during the festival in 2020 and 2021.

"We expect a large gathering of about 10 lakhs on Ratha Yatra as the people are allowed to participate in the festival after a gap of two years," PTI quoted P K Jena, Development Commissioner as saying.

According to the Hindu calendar, every year Jagannath Rath Yatra begins on Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya. This journey is of total 9 days, in which Lord Jagannath stays with his brother Balaram and sister Subhadra in Gundicha temple for 7 days.

Traditionally, on the first day of Rath Yatra, all three chariots are taken to Gundicha Temple. These chariots are pulled with thick ropes.

As per the schedule by Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, the deities will be brought to chariots in a ceremonial procession at 9:30 am on July 1. After the procession activities are completed by 12:30 pm, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb will perform the traditional 'Chhera Pahnra' (sweeping of three chariots), between 2.30 pm and 3:30 pm.

The chariot pulling will begin at 4 pm.

As many as 180 platoons of armed police personnel, including 1,000 officers of various ranks, have been deployed in and around the city. In addition to this, at least 50 CCTV cameras have been installed on Grand Road and other parts of Puri to ensure no untoward incident takes place.

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