Around fifty thousand people witnessed the chariot festival popularly known as Ashokastami in Bhubaneswar yesterday. It is one of the famous festival celebrated during the month of Chaitra with traditional gaiety and religious fervour for removal of sorrow and mark the victory of lord Ram over Ravana after seeking blessings from lord Siva and Goddess Shakti.

The servitors (sevayats) performed all rituals of lord Lingaraj at early morning with the cooperation of temple administration.After the completion of rituals at 9.30 am the servitors boarded the Chalant Pratima of lord Siva and Goddess Durga (known as Goddess Rukuna) the chariot.Thosands of devotees created their lord by chanting ‘Haribol’ and ‘Hula Huli’ ( a traditional sound created by the devotees to establish their presence).
The Holy procession began around 12pm and every devotees was eagar to pull the chariot , heavily decorated with flowers to it’s destination.The holy procession was about two km away from lord Lingaraj temple to Rameswar temple at Mausima chhak where lord Siva and Shakti stay for five days. The local administration significantly arrange all security measures to prevent criminal activities by deploying armed security personnels and conducted drone surveillances in the entire procession rout.Biranchi Narayana Pati who is the secretary of Brhamin Niyoga thanked to collector sri Amrit Rituraj of khurda district for his sincere cooperation.

Report By- Sambit Mishra
Bhubaneswar, Odisha