The traditional gaiety of Ratha Yatra at the headquarters of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Mayapur was missing on Monday as authorities cancelled all mass-based festivities in the wake of Covid-19 related restrictions.

There was only one tableau (Rath) on which triad of deities – Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra – were placed unlike every year when three huge Raths used to carry each deity separately. A team of 50 persons comprising devotees who were bestowed to render direct sewa to the deities like carrying deities to Rath, pulling the cart, preparing Chappan Bhoga for Jagannath, offering Prasadam, making garlands, decorating the deities were only allowed.

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All the sacred ceremonies and rituals were observed by the pujaris as mentioned in the scriptures. The movement of the Rath was only restricted inside the Iskcon Mayapur campus and no travelers were allowed to participate. The Gundicha temple, where Jagannath stays for nine days, has been made inside the Sri Chandradaya Temple hall.

The community devotees were asked to participate in the festivities via online platforms. According to Subroto Dasa, Media Communications Head at ISKCON Mayapur, during His stay at the Gundicha, people in a bunch of 40 will be allowed to have darshan after passing through thermal scanning at the security gate outside the main temple hall.

In pre-Covid times, ISKCON Mayapur Rath Yatra used to draw more than 1.5 lakh people from all over the world, more than 5,000 people used to be fed Jagannath Mahaprasadam free of cost each day for all nine consecutive days and a large Gundicha temple was constructed at the Ganga ghat, Dasa said.