Puri, July 8 (Representative) On the second day of the Rath Yatra, lakhs of devotees participated as the pulling of the chariots of the presiding deities of Sri Jagannath Temple, suspended on Sunday night, resumed on Monday morning. Three sets of priests performed the daily chores of the deities like Mangal Arati, Abakash, Mailum, Tadap Lagi and offered Gopal bhog on their respective rathas and dressed them with new clothes. The devotees are allowed to pull the chariot of Balabhadra called Taladhwaj at 9.20 am from Marichikot chhak along the Badadanda followed by Darpadalan chariot of Devi Subhadra and in the end lord Jagannath came riding on his Nandighosh chariot. The Nandighosh chariot was only pulled only a few metres from its parking place near Simhadwar on Sunday.
The devotees veered all three chariots to its destination Gundicha temple and the process was over by 2.35 pm. The pulling passed off peacefully without any unwanted incident. The second-day pulling has been necessitated as the Anasar period has been reduced to thirteen days from the regular fifteen days as per the temple almanac. This created a situation to observe three important rituals such as “Netra Utshav”, “Nabajouban Vesha”, and Rath Yatra on Sunday. To maintain the schedule, the devotees were prohibited from darshan of deities on Netra Utsav and in Nabajouban Vesha. Temple sources said the deities would spend the night on their respective chariot on Monday and on Tuesday the deities will be escorted into the Gundicha temple and seated on the Ratna Simhasana in ceremonial Goti Pahandi to be conducted by Daita servitors late in the evening.
The regular rituals will be conducted with offerings of cooked Mahaprasad after the deities are placed on the Ratna Simhasana of the Gundicha temple. President Droupadi Murmu who participated in the Rath Yatra on Sunday, spent the night in the Raj Bhavan. In the morning today, sources said, she strolled on the beach and shared her concern over the depleting environment climate issues in her X post.