Ahmedabad: On the eve of the 140 th Rath Yatra (Chariot procession) of Lord Jangannath from the historic temple in Jamalpur here, ‘offerings’ from Prime Minister Narendra Modi were today offered to the lord while State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, leader of opposition Shankersinh Vaghela and others performed the traditional ritual of ‘Rath Puja’ in presence of other prominent Congress leaders.

Temple trustee Mahendra Jha said that the traditional offering (prasad) of green gram (moong), blackberries (jamun) and mangoes sent by the PM to the Jagannath temple was received today on the eve of the 140 th rath yatra and was offered to the lord.

Jha said that Modi has always kept his commitment to send offerings to the temple, even if he could not attend the ritual in person.

“Our PM Modi is like a member of this temple as he had spent time in the temple during his early life. He is well aware of various traditions of this temple. Even when he was not famous, he never missed an opportunity to offer prasad to Lord Jagannath during the Rath Yatra,” Jha said.

Meanwhile Vaghela performed the ritual of rath puja in the temple premises in presence of other senior leaders of Congress including its state in-charge and former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and state party president Bharatsinh Solanki.

He later said that he had sought good rain for the state during his prayer.

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. 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 tomorrow, the Ashadi beej day of Gujarati Calendar.

Heavy security arrangement with deployment of over 20 thousand police personnel would be in place for the Rath yatra which passes through many communally sensitive areas of the city.

DeshGujarat