Ahmedabad: Two days prior to the 140th rath-yatra (chariot procession), the netrotsav pujan of Lord Jagannath along with brother Bhalbhadra and sister Subhadra on their symbolic return from Mosal (uncle’s place) after a fortnight long stay there was performed in the historic Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area here today.

Meanwhile a grand security rehearsal on the yatra route was also conducted this morning.

According to religious belief, it is said that the eyes of the three deities get affected with conjunctivitis owing to eating of Jambu or Jamun (Indian blackberry) and Baur (plum) in excess at Mosal. That is why they are symbolically treated for it during Netrotsav pujan with cloths over eyes.

The darshan of the idols which is closed from the day of Jal yatra (which marks the symbolic departure of the deities to Mosal) resumes during the Netrotsav pujan, however the eyes of the idols remain covered with cloths.

Trustee of the temple Mahendra Jha and main priest Mahant Dilip Das said that now for two days such traditional items in bhog would be offered which were deemed beneficial for eye problems. The flag changing (Dhwajarohan) also took place today. Amid large crowd of devotees on the occasion, Gujarat BJP president Jeetu Vaghani along with mayor Gautam Shah remained present during the Netrotsav pujan.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner A K Singh and other senior police official oversaw the grand security rehearsal on the route this morning after the first one that held yesterday.

A police official said that special vigil would be kept on the roofs of the buildings in the sensitive areas of the old city including Shahpur, Dariyapur etc. Apart from over 20000 police personnel, many plane clothed intelligence sleuths would also be deployed. The air surveillance through drone camera which would fly up to 100 meter in height and cover all the one km length of the procession, will be monitored through control room.

Taking about the general features of rath-yatra, Jha said that the procession led by three main chariots of lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra along with 19 elephants, 101 decorated trucks as chariots, 18 bhajan mandalis and large number of saints would itself be of one kilometer in length while the to and fro route from the temple in Jamalpur to Mosal in Saraspur is 18 km long. ‘Pahind vidhi (the ritual of cleaning the route of procession in the temple premises in the morning before its start with a golden broom) as usual would be performed by Chief Minister. BJP president Amitbhai Shah would participate in Mangala aarti on the rath yatra day,’ he informed.

The rath yatra starts in the morning from the temple (Nij Mandir) for mosal (Saraspur) and returns to nij mandir (the temple in Jamalpur) late in the night. Lakhs of devotees and onlookers throng the route of procession to have a glimpse of lord. This year it will be held on June 25, the Ashadi beej day of Gujarati Calendar.

DeshGujarat