PURI: The Trinity began their homeward journey on Monday after spending nine days in the Gundicha temple. Lakhs thronged the temple’s exit gate, Nakachana Dwar at the Saradhabali to witness the ceremonial Pahandi procession of the Bahuda Yatra.Chanting of hymns and ‘Haribol’ rented the air as the deities were brought out of the sanctum sanctorum. The Daitas servitors, the body protectors of deities, had spent the entire Sunday night fashioning ‘Chhenapatta’, a special armour for the deities to help absorb the stress of the journey.Early on Monday morning, the temple priests performed ‘Mangal Aarati’ and ‘Surya Puja’. The deities were offered ‘Khichidi Bhog’.The Pahandi began by 9.45 am and Gajapati Divya Singh Dev performed the Chhera Pahanra ritual at 1.45 pm. Pulling of the chariots began at 2.10 pm and the deities covered the 3-km stretch of Badadanda by evening.The temple administration breathed a sigh of relief after the chariots reached the temple as the Sunabesha is scheduled for Tuesday. The administration and servitors had raced against time for the timely observance of all nitees and rituals of the deities to facilitate early pulling of the chariots so that they would reach the main temple in time. Despite the humidity and heat, over five lakh devotees witnessed the Bahuda Yatra. Temple Chief Administrator Pradip Kumar Mahapatra, DM Fakir Satpathy, ADM P K Senapati and SP Amitendranath Sinha have overseen the proceedings.Additional DGP Sanjib Marik assisted by DIGs DS Kutte and Asit Kumar Panigrahi was busy making arrangements for the 15 lakh devotees expected to witness the Sunabesha.
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