According to official reports, lakhs of devotees thronged temple town of Puri in Odisha on Thursday for the annual Rath Yatra (chariot festival) of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. The ceremonial procession of the deities known as Pahandi - carrying the deities out of the temple to the chariots - started at 9.35 a.m. on schedule.

More than three lakh devotees have already reached the town, around 56 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar by 9 a.m. By evening, the numbers could swell to more than a million, say the temple authorities. The festival marks the annual journey of the three deities from the 12th century Jagannath temple in three splendidly decorated wooden chariots, pulled by devotees, to the Gundicha temple, around three km away. The festival ends nine days later when the deities make their way back home to the Jagannath temple. The return journey, known as Bahuda Jatra, will be organised June 29, 2012.

A glimpse of the deities is considered auspicious and around a million devotees throng to attend this procession annually. The chariots are pulled with ropes by devotees amid chanting of hymns. The state government has made elaborate security arrangements with about 8,000 policemen deployed across the town to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident