Jagannath Rath Yatra today: À la Puri, Prayagraj to pull three chariots
Prayagraj gears up for grand Rath Yatra like Puri, with three new chariots for Lord Jagannath, Subhadra, and Balabhadra.
Similar to the celebrations in Odisha’s Puri, Prayagraj is all set for Lord Jagannath’s grand Rath Yatra on Sunday.
The annual celebrations this time will, however, be grander as the organising committee, Shri Jagannathji Rath Yatra Mahotsav Samiti of Prayagraj, has built ‘raths’ or chariots one for the three deity--Jagannath, his sister Subhadra and elder brother Balabhadra--each, the organisers said. This will be the first time when devotees will get to pull all the three chariots in Prayagraj.
The two new chariots were prepared by two dozen artisans from Puri. The crown that would adorn Lord Jagannath was prepared by artisans from Jaipur; the Rajasthani dhoti-kurta was prepared by Uma Gupta and Neeraj Jadiya.
The Yatra will begin from Shri Jagannath Temple on Hewitt Road with full grandeur at 11 am and pass through Shiv, Durga and Hanuman temple and the municipal school at Mohatsimganj.
The team from Puri have prepared the wooden chariots entirely by hand without using any modern machinery. The chariots are called (Lord Jagannath), Taladhwaja (Lord Balabhadra) and Darpadalana (Goddess Subhadra), said Mohit Kumar Jaiswal, the convenor of the Samiti.
All three chariots are 18-feet-tall and 1and 12 feet wide. The construction of the two new chariots was underway for the past two-and-half months, he added.
“A team of 12 artistes from Rajasthan worked on that clothes and jewellery that will adorn the deities,” he added.
Since 1829, the Lord Jagannath temple here has been under the care of the Tiwari family of Kydganj. The current administrator of the temple is Mahendra Tiwari. He said that he was the fifth generation of his family managing the temple’s affairs.
