Bhubaneswar, April 16: The famous ‘Rukuna Rath Yatra’ of Lord Lingaraj was held on Tuesday in capital city Bhubaneswar with much fervor.
Besides some special rituals in the wee hours of Monday ,the Mangala Aalati of Lord Lingaraj was held at 5 am in the morning then the Public Darshan of the Lord was allowed.
The Surya puja was begun from 10.45 am then the Pahandi ritual of the lord was undertaken between 12:30 pm to 1:30 p.m. The other rituals relating to the sanctification of the chariot and the side gods and goddesses were held between 1.30pm to 3.30pm on top of the Chariot. The water for performing puja and symbolic baths of the Lord was collected from the Marichi Kunda near the Mukteswar temple on Saptami(the seventh day) for the Rukuna Rath Yatra.
With performing all the pre-rituals, the chariot pulling was begun at 3.30 pm.
Thousands of devotees were gathered in the Rath ground for the Rukuna Rath Yatra. Elaborate preparations were made by the Lingaraj Temple Admin,Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation(BMC) and police for smooth management of the Rukuna Rath Yatra. As many as 17 Platoons of police forces were deployed for crowd management.
The Rath Yatra of Lord Lingaraj which is celebrated as an annual sojourn of the Lord Lingaraj in Odisha on the day of Ashokastami that falls in the month of Chaitra. This festival, which is believed to be ‘Papa Binashakari Yatra’ that means festival that destroys all evil and sins, is generally held for five-seven days.
Rukuna Rath is also called ‘Analeuta’ chariot as the chariot does not take any turn during the return journey. The direction of altars of the gods gets changed and the chariot is pulled from the opposite side.
