Indians attend consecration of Jagannath in shrine near Tokyo

Bhubaneswar: Indians living in Japan organised the Shree Jagannath pran pratistha ceremony at Shree Ram Devalay, Sodo Ibaraki, around 60 km from Tokyo on Sunday.More than 300 people from the Indian, Japanese and Nepalese communities attended the ceremony that was jointly organised by the temple and Shree Jagannath Society, Japan.

Pandit Munindra Panda performed the rituals.“After the prana pratistha ceremony, all Jagannath devotees are able to offer rituals and organise different functions like arnaprasan at the temple,” said Gyanindra Mishra, convener of Shree Jagannath Society Japan.Devotees chanted Vishnu Sahasranama. Child artistes Jnanaganga Jena and Navyanshi Mittal performed Odissi and Bharatnatyam, respectively. A bhajan samaroah and kirtan were part of the celebrations.

“It was a heartening and spiritually enriching moment to witness the prana pratistha,” said Choudhury Rudra Charan Mohanty, vice-chairman, Shree Jagannath Ratha Yatra organising committee for Central Japan.Idols were bought from an artisan in Puri. While the idols of Lord Jagannath and Lord Balabhadra were 2-ft in height, those of goddess Subhadra and Sudarshan are 22 inches in height. “It took three to four artisans around 25 days to carve the idols from neem wood and paint those,” said Sashikanta Sahoo, the main artisan.

The order for the idols was placed a year ago and these were transported to Japan via Ahmedabad.The ceremony was integrated with kite-flying to celebrate Makar Sankranti. The kites were made at home by members of the society. “We have given them materials to make the kites. The Japanese, who participated brought their own kites,” said Mishra.Also present were Dhiraj Mukhia, consular minister, embassy of India in Japan, Noriko Ogasawara, president of Shimotsuma International Friendship Association and CEO of Sen International Company Sapan Sen.