Contrary to the general hue & cry  that the Rath Yatra of Puri would suffer a setback , the custodians of the event have demonstrated that ‘ man proposes and God disposes’ . One cannot  grudge the Temple administration and the community of ‘sevayats’ (priests) of Puri their shares of credit, who tailored a challenge into a success with conviction.

The emotions those sieved down the psyche of millions of devotees worldwide were a few silver lines in the middle of the gloom of the Covid and the fears related. The patience and perseverance shown by the state government and the temple’s chief administrator amid the turmoil of ‘yes and no’ over the prudence of holding a festival at that time, was really a signature act.

A Record That Must Go Down In Books

Taking on the humongous challenge of conducting the entire gamut of rituals and pulling of the chariots to their destination and  back, by the sevayats, braving the phobia of a virus, was, by all yardsticks, an achievement that must go down the record books of the temple for many years to come.

Of course, there was a time when the priests in general waded into their flamboyance and appeared adamant to go ahead despite a studied silence from the administration which was reluctant to come under any pressure built through emotions. The latter must have had its own reason behind the show of endurance and it does often pay.

It was a hard task and when there were certain differences of opinion among the sevayats, the risk ran by the administration was visible and to strike a solution for the impasse was not an easy one. There was a perplexed silence on the day the Supreme Court directive went against the holding of Rath Yatra on the ground of Covid fear, but the willing/ unwilling  suspension of pessimism proved itself weak and the final writ of the divinity prevailed upon.

Within hours the cloud of suspense thinned and the sevayats went jubilant but that is where the role of the administration came into play. Which means the administration was not merely a fence-sitter but it had all its gears ready in advance to help the things to go.

It was not that a devil (Corona) can control the virtues of a belief all the time, nor it can be an immortal thing always and   keep altering the grace of God with horror of a pandemic neither.