LUCKNOW: The annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra celebrations will once again be devoid of troupes, tableau trucks, and massive crowds in view of the coronavirus pandemic for the second consecutive year.
Temples which used to carry out Jagannath Yatra processions, drawing thousands of devotees pulling the rath (chariots) of the three deities – Lord Jagannath, Lord Balbhadra and Devi Subhadra – have decided to celebrate the day on July 12 with online live-streaming of rituals without any procession.
One of the city’s oldest puja samiti, Aminabad’s Shri Mahant Shatrughan Das Rath Yatra Samiti, will not organise its 97th year’s procession of Jagannath Yatra. “Since the pandemic is not completely over, the committee is in favour of not taking out the yatra for the safety of devotees.
No offering of flowers, fruits or prasad will also be allowed, member of the samiti, Surya Prakash Pathak, said. “We will allow devotees to offer prayers and request them to follow all Covid protocols. We will also live-stream the rituals on our Facebook page (FB/Rathyatra.mahotsav),” added Pathak.
Shri Radha Madhav Sewa Sansthan of Daliganj’s Madhav Mandir, which will enter its 60th year of Jagannath Yatra, will not host any grand affair. The temple has decided to perform only a set of rituals related to the Rath Yatra inside the temple. “Celebrations used to be a five-day affair when different sets of programmes were organised every day.
Given the crisis, live-streaming will be arranged on our Facebook page (radhamadhavlko). While the ritual of taking Lord Jagannath with his siblings on ‘ nagar brahman’ (city tour) is an important one, we will do so by taking the deities out in our car and will not stop anywhere,” said Anurag Sahu, spokesperson of the committee.
