Lakhs of devotees soaked in spiritual fervor thronged the pilgrim town of Puri from across the country at the grand road at on Monday to witness Lord Jagannath’s ‘Bahuda Yatra’ (return car festival), thus marking the grand culmination of annual Rath Yatra of the revered deities.

The pulling of chariots of three divine trinities- Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra- by ardent devotees filled the entire grand road (the venue of chariots’ majestic arch) with spirituality amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’ and the beating of cymbals.

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The deities left the Jagannath temple on 7 July during the Rath Yatra and reached Gundicha temple, considered their birthplace. They stayed there for a week and returned to the Jagannath temple. This return journey is known as the ‘Bahuda Yatra’.

A multi-layer security net was thrown in the town with heavy deployment of forces to ensure smooth celebrations and prevent any untoward incident. During the Rath Yatra stampede had occurred leading to the death of a devotee.

A total of 180 platoons (1 platoon comprises 30 personnel) of police force and 1,000 officers were deployed to maintain law and order and crowd management during the ‘Bahuda Yatra’.

According to mythology, the three deities – Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra wrap up their annual nine-day sojourn to Sri Gundicha Temple, their birth place and return to Sreemandir or Sri Jagannath temple riding their three majestic wooden chariots.

Several special rituals were performed before the deities were taken out of the Gundicha temple and placed on the three colourfully decorated chariots for the return journey amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath’ and ‘Hari Bol’.

The divine siblings were taken to their chariots in an elaborate ritual called ‘Pahandi’ to the beating of gongs, cymbals and blowing of conch shells. Lord Jagannath was ensconced in the largest of the three chariots – the 45 feet-high ‘Nandighosh’, Balabhadra in his 44 feet-high ‘Taladhwaja’ and Subhadra in her 43 feet-high ‘Darpadalan’.

Gajapati King of Puri Divya Singha Deb performed the ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual. He offered prayers to the deities and then swept the platforms of the chariots with a golden broom and sprinkled flowers and fragrant water.

The deities, who had embarked on a nine-day sojourn to the Gundicha Temple during Rath Yatra, would finally re-enter the 12th century shrine and again be placed on the ‘Ratna Simhasana’, the bejewelled throne, following a ceremony called ‘Neeladribije’.

Ahead of ‘Neeladribije’, the deities would be decorated with ‘suna besha’ or golden attire on their chariots, which traditionally attracts a large number of devotees.

As per the age-old tradition, the deities will have night stay on the chariots. The priests perform the rituals on the chariot itself. The deities attired in yellow metals emerged for darshan of the devotees the following day.

After the ‘Aadhar Pana’ (a special drink) ritual, the deities will enter Jagannath Temple in ‘Niladri Bije’ which will mark the end of Rath Yatra.