Sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik has made 125 sand chariots on the sea beach in Odisha's Puri as the coastal temple town marks the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his divine siblings. The Rath Yatra, which is the main festival of Odisha, is making a comeback this year after two years of muted celebrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The whole town is decked up for the nine-day festival, with devotees making a beeline for a glimpse of the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra.
Taking to Twitter Thursday, Pattnaik said: "With the blessings of Mahaprabhu #Jagannath we have created 125 Sand Ratha at Puri beach for #RathaYatra."
Pattnaik and the students of his sand art institute had made 100 sand chariots on the beach in 2016, a feat that made its place in the Limca Book of World Records. He said they have now broken their own record.
Pattnaik and his students took about 14 hours to complete the sculptures, news agency IANS reported.
He told IANS sand art is believed to have originated during the Rath Yatra in the 16th century. It was started by Balaram Das, who was a poet and staunch devotee of Lord Jagannath. It is said he was once humiliated by servitors who did not allow him to pull the chariots of the deities during a Rath Yatra procession, and he then went to the beach and made chariots on the sand.
In a separate tweet, Pattnaik also appealed to the people of the town and the visitors to avoid using single use plastic, and keep the environment clean.
Meanwhile, devotees thronged the Sri Jagannath Temple entrance area Thursday as servitors and devotees pulled the three grand chariots from the Ratha Khala, where they were being made, to the Singha Dwar (main gate) amid the blowing of conches and beating of cymbals. The chariots were parked in front of the Singha Dwar to be pulled by lakhs of devotees Friday afternoon. The procession will go eastwards towards Gundicha temple located around 3 km away.
As per custom, the deities will stay there for eight days and return on the ninth day.