Starting on Akshaya Tritiya every year, the 42-day festival concludes with bhaunri, a ritual, where the wheel and axle of the rath yatra chariots are fitted. The chandan yatra is a popular festival among the devotees and more so this year with the Nabakalebar coming up.
Madanmohan, the deity who represents Lord Jagannath in the yatra, is massaged with sandalwood paste daily to get tackle the summer heat. The deity, along with the idols of two Goddesses, Sridevi and Bhudevi, is decorated with flowers and taken to the Narendra tank on palanquins. Here, a chapa (a boat decorated with ancient designs) waits for them in the tank. The servitors place the deities in the boats and then go around the tank for over an hour as a ritual to beat the heat.
Starting on Akshaya Tritiya every year, the 42-day festival concludes with bhaunri, a ritual, where the wheel and axle of the rath yatra chariots are fitted. The chandan yatra is a popular festival among the devotees and more so this year with the Nabakalebar coming up.
These rituals and festivals, these are the things that make the Jagannath culture so unique and special since the deities too experience all the feelings and agonies, including the summer heat, that the devotees and all human beings go through.
Big Revamp on cards for Raghurajpur before Jagannath Nabakalebara