By Murali
Dhar Sahu,
Senior
Public Relations Officer(Rtd.)
/East
Coast Railway/Bhubaneswar
Loard Jagannath and his consort are
usually placed on huge chariots and taken out in procession every year in Puri.
Thousands of people from various parts of the country come to see and
participate in this mega event. Lots of people line up as volunteers to pull
the heavy chariot. Whenever you have a huge crowd, accidents cannot be ruled
out; they are just waiting to happen. There have been several reported cases of
people accidentally falling and being crushed by the huge wheels of Lord
Jagannath’s chariot due to damaged axle and wheels. A person who was witness to
such accident was a Franciscan missionary, named Friar Odoric. He visited India
in the 14th century and wrote about his visit to Puri in a
journal, which he published in Europe later on. In his journal, Odoric
wrote in detail about the huge chariot of Lord Jagannath and how the
devotees threw themselves at the chariot wheels allowing themselves to be
crushed. According to Odoric, the people were offering themselves as sacrifice
to the Lord. The European readers were shocked and horrified when they read
this and began to associate the word Jagannath as “JUGGERNAUT” with a huge
object that is out of control. The Friar’s negative story of the human
sacrifice spread throughout Europe and by the 19th century the
word “Juggernaut” began to be associated with a massive object without control,
which destroyed everything in its path.
With this backdrop, the steam
Railway was one of the principal achievements of Industrial revolution.
Railways in India have had a humble beginning from a small company in 1853 to
one of the largest organizations of the world. The Khurda Road –PURI (27 Miles)
section opened for traffic on 1st February, 1897. The line was
further extended by 2 miles in 1897-98, so as to obtain a better station site
to enable pilgrims to alight near the temples in Puri town. The government of
Orissa took over the administration of Lord Jagannath temple in 1960.
Like every year chariots were
rolling on the Bada Danda(Grand Road) on Rath Yatra, accidently one of the
chariots got entangled with an electric poll resulting damage to its axle. It
was a tough time for the collector of Puri, who prayed to Lord to solve the
problem.
It was a co-incidence that Shri V.
T. Patel, a Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer of South Eastern Railway
based at Khurda Road was one among the devotees watching the Rath Yatra. After
studying the impasse, Shri Patel came forward and approached the collector to
repair and set right the movement of the chariot with help of screw jack and
some Railway Mechanical staff. The collector and district Magistrate thought
Shri Patel as God sent. He immediately offered the responsibility. Within few
hours the entangled chariot was freed from the electric wires and the broken
axle and damaged wheels were repaired and the chariot moved forward. The
devotees, pilgrims and the entire crowd and administration praised the
Mechanical Engineer Shri V. T. Patel and his staff for the timely help.
The public knew about the train, the
roaring whistle of its engine but did not know about the engineer and
engineering technique of the railways.
From that year, the collector and
District Magistrate of Puri requests the Railway administration every year to
depute required Mechanical staff and supervisors with screw jacks and tools for
movement and traversing of Rath(chariots) during car festival at Puri on
public safety account. The Railway administration most honestly acknowledges
the service as Rath Seva by the Railways.
A team of 30 railway artisan staff
and two supervisors of the coaching Depot/Puri are engaged exclusively during
the period of Rath Yatra. Their services are utilized for shifting the chariots
and its repair before car festival, movement of chariots(Raths) in both car
festival and return car festival. Nearly 25 screw jacks of capacity 25 tons and
different carriage and wagon tools are utilized in this work.
The three chariots of Lord
Balavadra, Subhadra and Jagannath built and placed in front of Singha Dwara of
the main temple (Shri Mandir) are to be relocated to proper location one day
before the day of Rath Yatra. The railway employees start their work in the afternoon
and carry out till the early hours of next day morning to traverse chariots to
the encoded indentified places, keeping the proper gap between the chariots and
their alignment. Every care is taken to ensure that there is no damage caused
to the wooden parts of the chariot.
It is customary to pull the chariot
in forward direction only and the same maintained without any difficulty and
without consuming excess time with the help of the Railway Coaching staff with
their accessories.
On the festival day i.e Rath Yatra
the entire team of supervisors and staff with jacks & tools in two trucks
follows the movement of all the three chariots till these reach the Gundicha
temple. When the devotees pull the chariots, sometimes the chariots get
deviated and follow different trajectory. The carriage and wagon staff used to
shift the chariot to its proper location to facilitate further movement. After
reaching Gundicha temple, the chariots are checked, if there is any damage to
axles, wheels and other load bearing parts of the chariots. In case of any
damage noticed, the Railwaymen lift the chariot by supporting jacks so that the
carpenters carry carryout the repair work.
Similarly at Southside rotation
called Dakhinayana of the chariots at “Nakachana Gate” on Saptami day, the
Railway artisan staff assist in the movement and proper placement of the
chariots by virtually lifting the chariots 15 feet away and keeping the three
chariots at the gap of 2 feet in the well demarcated places by the help of
traversing jacks. On the day of Bahuda Yatra(Return car festival) the chariots
are drawn towards the main temple. During the course of movement the railway
staff carry out similar works as done during the onward movement of chariots.
After reaching the Singha Dwar the chariots are relocated to facilitate public
Darshan during SUNAVESA. With due permission of the collector and
Superintendent of Police, the Rath Sevaks of Railway return to their coaching
depot at Puri and make themselves ready for their Rath Seva in the coming year
Car Festival.
Two years back in the year 2010 on Gundicha Yatra, the Chariot of Devi Subhadra
broke down by breaking its axle near Gundicha Temple. Immediately, the
railway staff listed the chariot wheels by applying screw jacks and wooden
planks and the axle was repaired by the carpenters. The experienced
railway mechanical staff who used lift wagons or bogies by screw jacks during
train derailment and accident; apply the same technique in lifting the chariot
or chariot wheel during its breakdown.
Like previous years, railway will be providing trained and dedicated workforce
of 36 staff and supervisors, breakdown materials such as 25 tonnes screw jacks
and wooden planks, etc. as assistance to temple administration.
Besides, railway has made elaborate arrangement for Rath Yatra -2013.
Special care has been taken to ensure smooth transportation of pilgrims by
running 82 Nos. of special trains, provide medical, food and drinking water facilities
at Puri as well as en-route stations. Arrangements have also been made to
provide rest sheds, safety and security, cleanliness and sanitation at Puri
Railway station area.
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