Cuttack: Braving sultry climate, thousands of devotees on Sunday observed Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath at several places of the Millennium city here.
The festival passed off peacefully across the city where elaborate traffic arrangements were made to ensure a smooth Yatra, the police said.
The Rath Yatra at the Chandini Chowk Jagannath temple and Patitapaban temple at Dolamundai drew maximum devotees, where the pulling of chariots of the three deities was performed on time. Chariot pulling was also performed at Mahanadi Vihar, Shankarpur and Raghunathjew Temple at Telenga Bazaar.
The chariot of Goddess Subhadra at Dolamundai was pulled by only women devotees. Although, this has been a practice elsewhere in the state, the Dolamundai ritual is unique for the fact that all the women devotees who pull the Darpadalan chariot here wear the sacred yellow sarees.
Other rituals of Dolamundai Temple were performed in accordance to the suggestions made by the Puri temple.
On this occasion, spiritual and literary organisation `Neelasaila` thought it appropriate to launch its latest creation `Jati Nandighosha` in the premises of the Dolamundai temple, which was released by district collector Girish S N in presence of several eminent persons of the city.
The other famous Rath yatra of the city at Chandini Chowk is being observed with minor changes for last two years after the district administration pulled down its Gundicha Temple last year at Belle View as it was constructed on Government land.
Like previous year, the district administration this time too allowed the temple trust to set up a temporary Gundicha temple at a nearby place to complete the festival.
The district administration is rendering assistance following a direction from the Supreme Court last year.
