PURI, INDIA, June 23, 2001: Over 800,000 devotees witnessed the famous car festival of Lord Jagannath, His elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Goddess Subhadra in the pilgrim town of Puri on Saturday. The downpour and power failure on Friday night didn’t deter devotees who thronged to celebrate the annual sojourn of the Lord. The “Mangala Arati” of the deities started at about 5:00 am and was followed by other rituals. The festival then witnessed one of its finest moments when the three deities were brought out of the temple to their respective chariots in a spectacular procession called “Pahandi.” The Shankaracharya of Gobardhan Peetha, Puri, Swami Neeschalananda Saraswati, was the first to have a “darshan,” or sight, of the three deities on their chariots. There was a mad scramble to hold the ropes of the chariots, a lifetime wish of the devotees who had come from all corners of the country and abroad to witness the famous festival.
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