Thousands of people pulled the ropes attached with chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings on a road from near the 12th-century shrine here towards Shree Gundicha temple, around 2.6 km away, as the main part of Rath Yatra festival began on Friday.Odisha Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, and many other dignitaries
were among those who pulled the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra.
Amid chanting of “Jai Jagannath” and “Hari Bol”, beating of cymbals and blowing of trumpets and conch shells, the ‘Taladwaja’ chariot of Lord Balabhadra first started rolling at 4.08 PM. It was followed by Devi Subhadra’s ‘Darpadalan’ chariot and finally Lord Jagannath’s ‘Nandighosh’.
While the devotees were pulling the chariots, the priests surrounded the deities on the chariots as the procession made its way through the Grand Road of this temple town. While thousands of people pulled chariots, lakhs of others also reached the seaside temple town to participate in the festival.
Around one million devotees are estimated to have converged on this town for the annual car festival, officials said.
The chariot pulling started after Puri’s titular king, Gajapati Maharaja Divyasingha Deb, performed ‘Chhera Pahanra’ (sweeping of chariots) on all three chariots.
Wooden horses of different colours were fitted on three chariots before they were pulled by the devotees.