No rath will move from Jagannath temple in Ranchi on June 23 in a marked departure from its over three-century old history.

The final decision in this regard was taken in a meeting presided by Ranchi sub-divisional officer Lokesh Mishra on Saturday.

As such, the presiding deites — Lord Jagannath and his siblings Balabhadra (Balaram) and Subhadra — will not board the chariot to go to their Mausi Bari about half a kilometre away.

“The rituals will, however, be allowed within the temple complex,” SDO Mishra informed The Telegraph, adding that will be totally closed for outsiders.

The Supreme Court on June 18 also stayed the famous Rath Yatra in Puri this year because of Covid-19 induced pandemic.

“It would be very difficult to manage even if we had planned to bring out the Rath with a limited number of priests and committee members,” said Chandrakant Raipat, secretary of the temple management committee.

There are so many localities around the temple complex and it would be a crowd even if a few from each of those reached that time, he explained.

“The rituals will be done within the closed temple by the priests,” he further informed, adding none other than a few committee members would be allowed there.

The Jagannathpur temple of Ranchi is quite famous. There is a legend suggesting that the then local ruler Aini Nath Shahdeo could not make it to Puri as he faced certain obstructions and became very depressed. It was then the Lord himself instructed him, in a dream, to build a temple in Ranchi and worship him there.

Thus, the ruler completed construction of the temple on a hillock at the present Jagannathpur area. Rath yatra and a mela started there in 1691 and continued uninterrupted since then.

The temple later developed a crack and was renovated about 25 years ago.

“We are not aware if Rath Yatra was ever interrupted here,” Raipat said, adding the situation is different this time when even the Puri event had to be cancelled.

The tribals who were in a majority in the area that time patronised the event. Though Ranchi grew enormously with passage of time and the mela started looking more like an urban affair, the tribals still visit it in large number as do others from the city.