Disbelief, shock stun pilgrim town as SC order dashes Rath Yatra hopes
Bhubaneswar: It was around 1 pm on Thursday when residents of Puri and the servitors of the Jagannath Temple started walking silently towards the Grand Road or Bada Danda that runs in front of the 12th century shrine. The men and the women were mostly silent; many of them were teary-eyed. A sense of disbelief seemed to have stunned them into silence. After all, the Rath Yatra of the sibling deities of Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra had never been cancelled in recent living memory.
“Today is a black day in the history of Odisha. We cannot believe that the annual Rath Yatra of the temple will not be held this time. Stoppage of the Rath Yatra might turn out to be a bad omen for the state,” said senior servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra.
The world-famous festival — in which the deities travel for three kilometre in towering, specially designed chariots from their abode Jagannath Temple to their ‘aunt’s house’ in Gundicha Temple on the Grand Road — is an integral part of the social and cultural life of Puri. A touch of the ropes affixed to the chariots is believed to a blessing, and the actual pulling of the chariots is preceded by dance performances, devotional music and other kinds of performances. Besides, the spectacular nature of the Yatra is believed to have lent heft to the word ‘juggernaut’.
Such is the importance of the festival to Puri that the town, which was battered by Cyclone Fani in May 2019, ensured that it recovered sufficiently to be able to host the festival with its usual pomp a couple of months later.
“Although the Rath Yatra is celebrated in different places, the festival in Puri is undoubtedly the show-stealer. The nine-day festival means a lot to the servitors and the locals. Every house around the temple, and the entire Grand Road, wears a bridal look during the Rath Yatra. Guests would have started arriving in the town by this time. Catching a glimpse of the hustle bustle around the temple, the spontaneous chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’ and the teeming crowds would fill us with ecstasy,” explained Jajati Mohanty, a retired teacher.
The Supreme Court’s order on Thursday to cancel this year’s Rath Yatra, scheduled to be held next Tuesday, has gutted the coastal town. It seems an even crueller blow as the state government, based on the Centre’s go-ahead, had given the temple permission to start work on the chariots.
“As recently as Tuesday, the temple administration had asked the shrine purohits (priests) to remain in readiness to consecrate the chariots on the morning of Rath Yatra. Why did the government raise our hopes, only to dash them like this?” wondered Debasis Das, lawyer and convener of Srikhetra Swabhiman Mancha.
For many, keeping their emotions in check proved to be a difficult task on Thursday. Take for instance Bhagi Pujapanda, a servitor, who was inconsolable after hearing the Supreme Court order. “I am shattered. The Rath Yatra had not been stopped even during the outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918. The festival was last cancelled around 285 years ago because of attacks on the temple by Muslim rulers. This year, we could have observed the festival with restrictions,” Pujapanda said.
Sandhyarani Mishra (65), a local resident, too, broke down after the Supreme Court order. “We would have happily accepted if the Supreme Court had banned the congregation of devotees during the festival. Debasnan Purnima festival was observed without participation of devotees in Puri on June 5. Chariots could have been pulled by limited number of servitors and police. The government could have examined the Orissa high court’s proposal to use heavy machines or elephants to pull the chariots,” Mishra said.
“We have high regards for the Supreme Court. But if public transport, flights, trains, shops, hotels and malls are resuming services, even Rath Yatra should have been allowed with restrictions,” said S K Das, a Puri-based hotelier.