Odisha Leaves Behind The Horrors Of Cyclone Fani As Puri Is All Set For The Rath Yatra Of Lord Jagannath
Over two lakh people are expected to attend the first day of the annual celebrations that will begin in Puri on Thursday. The three chariots of Lord Jagannath and his two siblings will be pulled by thousands of devotees over the next nine days. As per tradition the annual rath yatra depicts the trio going to their aunt&rsquos house - Gundicha temple.
Just a couple of months ago Odisha's temple town of Puri was left in shambles after extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani, the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the state since Phailin in 2013 wreaked havoc.
Odisha is yet to fully recover from the devastation left behind by Fani, but it has not dampened the spirit of thousands of devotees as Puri is all set for the famed Rath Yatra.
Reuters
Over two lakh people are expected to attend the first day of the annual celebrations that will begin in Puri on Thursday.
Best wishes to everyone on the special occasion of the Rath Yatra.
¡ª Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 4, 2019
We pray to Lord Jagannath and seek his blessings for the good health, happiness and prosperity of everyone.
Jai Jagannath. pic.twitter.com/l9v36YlUQ5
Greetings to all the on the holy occasion of Lord Jagannath #RathYatra.My SandArt at #Puri beach in #Odisha pic.twitter.com/VbEH9bKwYJ
¡ª Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) July 4, 2019
The three chariots of Lord Jagannath and his two siblings - elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra will be pulled by thousands of devotees over the next nine days.
As per tradition, the annual rath yatra depicts the trio going to their aunt¡¯s house - Gundicha temple.
Reuters
They will return to Shree Mandir only on the ninth day, concluding the annual yata.
BCCL
¡°I take great pride in announcing that Odisha will be celebrating the Jagannath Rath Yatra during July 4-12, just two months after the cyclone-ravaged the city of Puri,¡± state tourism minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi told PTI, adding the state has already restored the key infrastructure like electricity and water supply, telecommunication and hotels which were destroyed by in the calamity.
Cyclone Fani made landfall on May 3, leaving a trail of destruction behind in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Odisha was the worst hit where according to the Union Home Ministry 64 people lost their lives, 556,000 houses and huts were damaged, 6,281 cattle were lost, 148,663 hectares of cropland affected and 6,416 boats and 8,828 nets were damaged.
Most of the state was left without power supplies or telecommunication as the cyclone had uprooted thousands of electric pots and mobile towers.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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