Tag: kullu dussehra rath yatra

While Dussehra ended in rest parts of the country on Vijayadashmi, the weeklong Dussehra festivities of Kullu started on Sunday with the rath yatra of the Lord Raghunath in presence of just eight deities and a limited number of people. While Kullu Dussehra Committee had sent invitations to 331 deities and thousands of people were present in the rath yatra last year, a limited number of people were present in the rath yatra along with eight deities this year. The deities first paid obeisance to the Lord Raghunath, presiding deity of the festivity and then performed the rituals. The rituals of the festivities start from the royal palace where royal family dressed in traditional attire performs the rituals. Rituals started after arrival of the palanquin of Devi Hidimba. The idol of the Lord Raghunath is then brought to Rath ground for rath yatra. Not all people were allowed to pull the chariot. Administration had finalised 200 devotees for this purpose. All the devotees pulling chariot and those in procession of the deities had to undergo Covid-19 test. The chariot was pulled from Rath ground to the middle of the Dhalpur ground where it will stay for six days. The valley was echoing with the divine music of drums and trumpets. However, a limited number of musicians were allowed with each procession of the deity. On seventh day the chariot will be wheeled to the bank of Beas river to perform final rituals and then it will be brought back to Rath ground. The deities will camp at historic Dhalpur ground till October 31. Covid-19 pandemic forced administration not to invite over 300 deities of the valley this year which otherwise had caused huge crowd. Palanquins of only seven deities were allowed to come to Dussehra venue to perform the major