Puri: Bahuda Yatra or the return journey of Lord Jagannath and His siblings to their abode Srimandir after spending seven days at Gundicha Temple kickstarted today with the ceremonial procession ritual called the ‘Bahuda Pahandi’.
In Bahuda Yatra too the procession occurs in Dhadi Pahandi where all the deities move simultaneously one after the other in close succession.
Lord Sudarshan, considered to be the pilot god, leads the ceremonial procession as per the religious tradition. He is followed by the Lord Balabhadra, then Devi Subhadra and lastly Lord Jagannath are taken out from their temporary abodes.
After the deities are placed on their chariots, ‘Chhera Pahanra’ is performed by Gajapati Maharaja of Puri. Thereafter, the pulling of the chariots begins in the same order as in Rath Yatra.
On the way back, chariots of Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra move directly to the Srimandir also known as ‘Badadeula’ and are parked in front of ‘Singha Dwara’. However, Shree Jagannath’s chariot halts for a while at Ardhasini temple, also known as Mausi Maa Mandira where ‘Poda Pitha’, a special sweet made of rice, coconut, lentils and jaggery, is offered to Him.
After this, it resumes the journey, however before reaching ‘Singha Dwara’, it also halts in front of the palace of Gajapati Maharaja of Puri where the ritual called ‘Lakshmi-Narayana Bheta’ is held.
The three chariots had taken the ‘Dakshina Moda’ on Thursday (July 7). As per tradition, the three chariots were pulled one after the other towards south from the entry gate parking and stationed at the exit gate of Gundicha temple, known as ‘Nakachana Dwar’. The chariot of Devi Subhadra was pulled first followed by the ones of Lord Balabhadra and Lord Jagannath.
