INDIA: A sea of devotees gathers for hugely popular chariot festival, but some die in stampede

Record ID: 1371993

  • Title: INDIA: A sea of devotees gathers for hugely popular chariot festival, but some die in stampede
  • Date: 6th July 2008
  • Summary: (L!WE) PURI, INDIA (JULY 4, 2008) (REUTERS) POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF CROWD OF DEVOTEES THRONGING THE CHARIOT FESTIVAL, RAISING THEIR ARMS MAN TRYING TO CLIMB WALL
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2008 03:14
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVABU38WH2CBZH6NNSRQ9OKDZX69
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Amid the clash of cymbals and blowing of conch shells, a sea of humanity witnessed giant limbless wooden images of three deities -- Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra -- riding in chariots out of the Jagannath temple in India's coastal city of Puri on Friday (July 04).
    The coastal city in Eastern Orissa, believed to be Lord Jagannath's abode, witnessed the annual chariot festival which falls in July or August and which has been celebrated for the last 1,000 years.
    During the sacred ritual, devotees traditionally pull three giant chariots amid frenzied chanting of hymns.
    Friday was the main day of the festival, when idols of Jagannath and other Hindu deities at Sri Mandira, the town's main temple, are taken in huge decorated chariots to another nearby temple.
    Many foreign devotees, like Frenchman Charles, who eagerly witness the festival annually, kept their appointment with their lord again this year.

    "I come every year now by the mercy of Jagannath, since 17 years.
    I am coming to his Rath Yatra festival. Since I am living in Vrindavan, lord Jagannath always likes to have devotees of Vrindavan participating his festival because himself is going to Vrindavan today," said Charles, who has changed his name to Bhakta Das.
    The Jagannath temple, about 40 miles from the state capital Bhubaneswar, is one of India's holiest Hindu shrines.
    The festival commemorates Lord Krishna's return to his home in Vrindavan, after a long period. The English word "juggernaut" is derived from Jagannath's chariot.
    The yatra or procession is a round trip from the main temple to another nearby temple where the idols of the deities rest for seven days before their return to the main temple.
    According to Hindu believers, Lord Jagannath is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Preserver, one of the trinity of the Hindu pantheon. The other two are Brahma, the Creator and Shiva, the Destroyer.
    But this year's festival was not all joy and blessings -- it was marred by a stampede which left at least six people trampled to death.
    Dozens more were injured, police said.
    Puri police Superintendent Asit Kumar Panigrahi confirmed that some of the injured were pronounced dead after arriving at hospital.

    "There was some stampede-like situation in one or two places and they were immediately shipped to the hospital by ambulance and they have been received dead there. We have yet to locate the exact place where this has happened," he said.
    Religious fervour often combines with bad crowd management at holy sites in India.
    Six pilgrims were crushed by crowds at a south Indian temple in January, while more than 250 pilgrims were crushed or burnt to death when a fire broke out at a temple in western India in 2005.
    ENDS.
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