Nayagarh: As many as 104 logs were dispatched from Dasapalla in the Nayagarh district of Odisha on Saturday for the construction of three chariots for Lord Jagannath’s annual Rath Yatra in Puri. The logs were dispatched after a special ritual at Mahaveer Temple.
Three trucks carrying the 104 logs left for the ‘ratha khala’ beside the Grand Road in Puri where the three chariots will be constructed.
According to tradition, three trucks left for Puri after rituals were performed in front of Lord Mahabir’s temple. MLA Rameshchandra Behera, ACF Svetalin Sahu, and Forest Officer Nikhilesh Mallick were present on the occasion.
It is worth noting that in the first phase, 71 pieces of Asan and 33 pieces of Dhaura wood collected from Cheyapalli and Pokharigocha sections of Daspalla Forest have been sent.
Sawing of the timber will be taken up on Ram Navami after the requisite number of logs arrives at the ‘ratha khala’ and construction of chariots will begin on Akshaya Tritiya. Normally, about 865 log pieces of different types are used for the construction of the Holy Trinity’s chariots every year.
The process for making the chariots for the Rath Yatra of sibling deities of the 12th-century shrine had begun last month when a team of servitors, comprising supervisor of chariot construction Sudarshan Mekap, head of Bhoi servitors Rabi Bhoi and amin Laxman Mahapatra, had gone to Nayagarh to identify the timber.
