Puri (Odisha): Lord Jagannath installed on a magnificent Nandighosa chariot arrived at Gundicha temple for a nine-day sojourn on Friday. The Lord, along with his two siblings -- Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra--will stay at Gundicha temple for at least nine days. Devi Subhadra's chariot 'Darpadalana' and Lord Jagannath's Nandighosa chariots were now waiting for Kalia Thakura, 'Who' joined the aunt's place later on.
Besides, Khurda was soaked in celebrations when Lord's Rath Yatra was taken out at a place called Kankada Sikhari in the Chilika lake area, Asia’s largest brackish waterbody on Friday. The chariot of the Lord mounted on boats was sailing on the Chilika lake amid the presence of devotees and others. The glimpse of the Lord's chariot moving in the Chilika lake, too, on boats was a unique feature of the Jagannath Rath Yatra festival in the Khurda district of Odisha.
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Although, Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra is taken out all over the world and devotees pull the chariot. But, at a place called Kankada Sikhari close to Nairi village in Chilika lake the in Khurda district of Odisha the annual nine-day sojourn of the Lord and His religious procession is taken out on the waterbody. According to the legend, the three idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were shifted to safer places to protect deities from Mughal and Afghan attacks. Three places such as Kankada Sikhari, Gurubai and Chakanasi in the Chilika lake area were the hideouts where the idols were kept to protect them from Mughal and Afghan attacks.
Khurda soaks in celebrations as devotees take out Rath Yatra in Chilika lake When the idols were kept in hiding during the Mughal and Afghan onslaughts; devotees of Kankada Sikhari at Nairi village and the servitors used to fetch fresh water from the nearby Jamuna Nirjhara to pay obeisance to the Lord. At that time, local people used to cultivate spiny gourd called kankada on the island as offerings to the Lord. It was assumed that the name Kankada Sikhari might have been derived from the spiny gourd.
