It’s Rath Yatra time, and millions of devotees of Lord Jagannath, the presiding deity of Odisha, should have a lot to celebrate. Instead, the mood is bleak. The state government has announced what the faithful had dreaded all along—the nine-day annual Rath Yatra, the grandest Odiya religious event with its showpiece in the beach town of Puri, will be an abbreviated event like last year because of Covid. The 2020 shock hadn’t quite dissipated when the fresh blow came.
Special relief commissioner Pradeep Jena said the Rath Yatra, beginning July 12, would follow restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court last year. It means the festival is scaled down and devotees won’t be allowed to pull the raths or chariots—a ritual that attracts maximum attention, enthusiasm and, of course, devotion. The privilege in these Covid-regulated times rests on a limited number of servitors, policemen and temple officials. And that’s not all: the chariot-pullers must have negative Covid (RT-PCR) test report or certificates of having taken both doses of the vaccine. Devotee participation is restricted to watching the event on TV.
Having witnessed a staid, perfunctory Rath Yatra devoid of devotees in 2020, people were hoping for a return of the pomp and grandeur of the marquee event this year. But the second wave of the pandemic has shaken up everything. Jagannath devotees are disappointed at the unfortunate turn of events. But the most upset are people living in places like Baripada, Kendrapara and Keonjhar where the Rath Yatra festival—although synonymous with Puri—is celebrated with equally great fervour. Their peeve: no chariots will roll in any part of the state, other than the token show in Puri, because of Covid restrictions.
After the government’s announcement, devotees and priests in Baripada, known for the second biggest Rath Yatra in the state, held a protest demonstration demanding permission for a symbolic pulling of the chariots, as in Puri, in compliance with all Covid protocols and without the participation of devotees. Preparations for the festival had been done in Kendrapara and Keonjhar, the other major centres, as well in anticipation of favourable conditions this time. Construction of the Lord Baladevjew chariot in Keonjhar, supposedly the tallest, was nearing completion when the disappointing news came.
By Sandeep Sahu in Bhubaneswar
