Chariots of holy trinity reach Gundicha temple in Puri

Puri: The three chariots – ‘Nandighosa’ (Lord Jagannath), ‘Taladhwaja’ (Lord Balabhadra) and ‘Darpadalan’ (Devi Subhadra) reached Gundicha temple (home of their aunt) today amid chanting of “Jai Jagannath” as sea of people thronged the Holy town to have a glimpse of their beloved lords.

While ‘Taladhwaja’ and ‘Darpadalan’ reached Gundicha temple, 3 kilometres from Shri Jagannath temple earlier in the day, the ‘Nandighosa’ was positioned before the Gundicha temple at 6.40 pm.

The pulling of the three giant chariots began much ahead of scheduled time at 2.15 pm. It was supposed to start at 4 pm.

The deities will stay at Gundicha temple for a week during the nine-day Ratha Yatra festival. The devotees can have darshan of the deities atop the chariots till tomorrow before they are taken to the Gundicha temple in a procession.

The police have made elaborate security arrangement around the chariots so that no devotee is allowed to climb the chariots or touch the deities.