CUTTACK: The fervour and festivity of Rath Yatra in the district on Sunday was marred by a teenager’s death at Tigiria. The youth Trinath Rout (18) of Palaput under Banki police limits had come to participate in the chariot pulling ceremony at the Jagannath temple in Sunthipal village of Tigiria block when he slipped and came under the wheels. He died on the spot and the chariot carrying the deities had to be stopped immediately. Rout had been among the people at the closest end of the chariot. As the chariot was pulled with full force, he could not keep pace and apparently fell down. The wheel of the chariot rolled over his head. The incident occurred at the last lap near the Gundicha temple and thus there was no trouble in shifting the deities, Tigiria police said. In Cuttack and elsewhere in the district, the festivities went on smoothly. Thousands of devotees thronged the main Jagannath temples at Chandni Chowk and Dolmundai as the millennium city was soaked in religious fervour. The deities at Chandni Chowk were tugged by thousands of devotees with the chariot of Goddess Subhadra being exclusively left for women for the first time. As the deities rolled, the whole route till the Gundicha Temple on the Kathjodi reverberated with chants and sounds of cymbals. Dancers in traditional forms of Laudi Nrutya, Ghoda Nacha and Ghanta Patua Nacha led the chariots drawing attention and adding colour to the ceremony. The deities reached the Gundicha temple on time in the evening. There was carnival atmosphere at Dolmundai Square. The chariot pulling ceremony commenced in the afternoon with hordes of devotees leading the deities to their aunt’s abode at Pithapur. With the deities reaching the destination, the whole grounds transformed into a fair with people flocking the area to take part in the amusement activities around. The festivities will continue for the next nine days. Elaborate security arrangements had been made for smooth conduct of the ceremony.
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