The Lord Jagannath Temple built by the Emami Group of Companies hosted its very first colourful Car Festival (Rathyatra) at Balgopalpur , Balasore, Odisha. After the “Prana Pratistha” of the divine Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra in November 2015, this is the first Rathayatra that is being celebrated at this temple.
Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra & Lord Jagannath on their decorated chariots started their divine journey from the magnificent shrine with a height of 78 ft constructed on a sprawling three acres of land on the premises of Emami Paper Mills. More than 50000 devotees flocked to the town to watch this holy trinity ride in their elaborate chariots through the streets of Balgopalpur. An utmost spiritual ambience pervaded the whole environment as bells chimed, conch – shells blew and the devotees danced to the tune of celestial songs & chants. It was a fascinating event to watch the ecstatic devotees gathering at the Temple grounds for pulling the holy chariots and pay their homage to the deities.
Soon after all the deities are seated in their respective chariots surmounted by decorated pavilions, the ritual of sweeping the pathway of the chariots was started. Shri R S Goenka, Founder & Joint Chairman, Emami Group of Companies initiated this service with a golden broom as the foremost servant of Lord Jagannath. On the ninth day i.e. during the Bahuda Yatra, the deities will come back to the temple followed by the same rituals. On 15th July 2016, the devotees can see the “Suna Besha” (Deities adorned with gold jewellery). Shri Sushil Kumar Goenka, Director, Emami Group co-ordinated the entire occasion with the help & co-operation of the officials and employees of Emami Paper Mills Ltd. Shri Ananta Das, Hon’ble Government Chief Whip, OLA, Shri Rabindra Kumar Jena, MP, Balasore, Shri Govinda Chandra Das, MLA, Remuna, Shri Aswini Patra, MLA, Jaleswar & Shri Pramod Kumar Das, Collector & District Magistrate, Balasore with other dignitaries joined the Car festival.
Rath Yatra is an eternal celebration of the divine values of love, compassion and of equality andfraternity. The concept of a benevolent God descending from His eternal abode- The Ratna Singhasan – down to the public avenue to share the joys and suffering, trials and tribulations of the common folk – irrespective of caste, creed and religion- is indeed uncommon and amazing in the history of religious thought.
The Lord Jagannath temple of the Emami Group at Balasore, Odisha is located close to the newsprint and coated board manufacturing unit of Emami Paper Mills Limited. The temple is the outcome of the spiritual vision of Shri R S Agarwal and Shri R S Goenka, the Founding Fathers and Joint Chairmen of the Emami Group of Companies, headquartered in Kolkata. Their spiritual passion started taking the shape of a reality when they met noted architect and sculptor Padma Vibhushan Sri Raghunath Mohapatra in 2009.
Emami Group, is a diversified business conglomerate enjoying a market valuation of about Rs 45,000 cr. Generating employment for over 25,000 employees, the Group has significant presence with leadership positions in diversified industries such as FMCG – Emami Ltd., the flagship company of the Group & one of the leading FMCG companies in the country engaged in manufacturing & marketing of personal care and healthcare products like Navratna, BoroPlus, Zandu Balm, Fair & Handsome, Menthoplus Balm and Kesh King; Bio Diesel and Edible Oil – Emami Agrotech Ltd. –3rd largest edible oil company in India. It is also the only Bio-diesel manufacturer in the country; Paper – Emami Paper Mills, India’s largest newsprint manufacturer; Writing Instrument – CRI Tips, world’s 3rd largest ball point tip manufacturer; Realty -Emami Realty, a leading real estate company; ealthcare – AMRI Hospitals, Eastern India’s largest chain of private hospitals; Retail –Frank Ross and Starmark, largest pharmacy retail chain in the East & one of the largest leisure-cum-book store chains in India and Contemporary Art – Emami Chisel Art, one of the largest art galleries in India. The Group is setting up a 4 MTPA Cement Plant in Chhattisgarh with two split grinding units in West Bengal and Odisha at a total investment of around Rs. 3000 cr. The Group also has around 70 MW Solar Power Generation projects in hand in Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand.
-Odisha Age
