Chariots of the three deities — Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and her brother Balabhadra — rolled on the Grand Road of Puri on Tuesday after the first sevak of Lord Jagannath, the erstwhile king of Puri, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, swept the decks of each of the chariots with the ceremonial broom.

After Gajapati performed the ceremonial Chhera Panhara (sweeping the chariots) using a broom with a gold-plated handle, other rituals followed and the pulling of the chariots began amid an atmosphere drenched in devotion.

Clad in spotless white, Deb came on a Tamzan (a palanquin with a hood) from his palace to the Singhadwara where chariots stood ready to roll. As many as 12 men carried the palanquin from the palace and brought Deb to Singhadwara.

The first sevak swept the floor of Taladwaja, the chariot of the elder brother Lord Balabhadra, followed by the chariot Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath and finally cleaned the decks of Darpadalan, the chariot of Goddess Subhadra. Later he greeted the lakhs of devotees gathered at the Grand Road to pull the chariots with a smile and namaste.

“The job of sweeping the chariots sends a message about being humble. There is no place of ego here as the king himself is doing the job of a sweeper. We all are sevaks and all are equal before god,” said Pandit Surya Narayan Rath Sharma, an exponent of Jagannath culture.

As soon as 70-year-old Deb finished his job, the pulling of chariots began. Amid the chants of “Jai Jagannath” and frenzied beating of gongs and cymbals, the chariots rolled on the Grand Road pulled by devotees.

Prior to the king doing his rituals, the deities came to the chariots from the 12th century temple one by one by the servitors in a ceremonial procession called Pahandi Vije. The floor of the Singhadwara where the chariots were stationed was decorated with beautiful jhotis (traditional paintings) that caught the attention of everyone. Many devotees in the get-up of Hindu gods such as Lord Shiva and Lord Hanuman performed their dance in front of the chariots, adding colours to the Rath Yatra. Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati came and performed his rituals on the chariots.

Despite the scorching heat (Puri recorded 34 degrees Celsius on Tuesday with 72 per cent humidity), the Grand Road was teeming with lakhs of devotees. Enthusiasm was at its peak when the pulling of the chariots began. The first to roll on was Taladwaja followed by Darpadalan and finally Nandighosh.

The devotees would pull the chariots from Shree Jagannath temple to Shree Gundicha temple, about a distance of 2.5km, where the deities would stay for seven days before leaving for the Jagannath temple on June 28, known as Bahuda Yatra.

There was a stampede-like situation when a woman devotee fell down during the pulling of chariots. Many people were injured. But the situation was brought under control because of the timely intervention of police. A number of devotees were seen fainting while pulling the chariots. However, the police and social workers carried them to the first aid centre. In order to cool down the atmosphere, water was sprinkled on the Grand Road from time to time.