Lord Jagannath's return car festival held with fanfare

Rituals inside makeshift Gundicha, where Lord Jagannath and his divine siblings Balev, Subhra stayed for past eight days, marked return car festival on Wednesday as usual sight of pulling of chariots by a large number of devotees was again missing across West Bengal after Rath Yatra day due to COVID- 19 pandemic.

situation was similar in temples of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at Mayapur in Nia district and Kolkata, and famous Rath Yatra at Mahesh in Hooghly district. ISKCON Mayapur spokesman Subroto Das said unlike around 2 lakh people pulling three chariots on ro, only monks, priests and some resident devotees participated in programme.

He said 40 resident devotees from 30 countries painted colourful rangolis, flowers and prepared 'Chappan bhog' to mark return journey of deities to Jagannath temple from temporary Gundicha structure built within same temple complex. Close to a million devotees across world watched it on various digital platforms.

At ISKCONs Kolkata temple, monks brought Lord Jagannath and his siblings from temporary Gundicha on ground floor to original place of deities on upper floor in temple premises, spokesman Rharaman Das said. Three small chariots were symbolically pulled in temple compound to mark return trip of Lord.

Trinamool Congress MP Nusrat Jahan and her husband were present for sometime when rituals were performed and offered ir prayers. ceremony was telecast live on ISKCON Kolkatas Facebook and YouTube channels. At Mahesh, 624-year old Rathyatra in Hooghly district, three shaligram shila representing deities inside temple were taken back from Gundicha temple to Jagannath temple one km away, a temple committee spokesman said.

All rituals were performed "but we rue fact that people couldn't pull chariot on ro during Rath Yatra and as well Ulto Rath (return journey) unlike previous years. Coronavirus took away enthusiasm of ceremony this year," he said. festival passed off sans any fanfare in rest of state.