Click to play videoBaripada: A stark contrast to Sabarimala, here's a place where women are privileged worshippers.
At Baripada in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, only women are allowed to pull Subhadra's rath (chariot)and thousands of women jostle to hold the sacred rope.
In 1975 the district administration said only women will pull the Subhadra's rath and this was announced on the occasion of International Women's day.
Women do not usually get the opportunity to pull the rath at Puri, mainly because of the huge crowd.
Women devotees from across the state pour in at Baripada to avail the opportunity.
"We come here every year, we are so happy to get the opportunity to pull the chariot," says a devotee, Banani Das.
"I have come here for the first time. I have wished that the Goddess Subhadra will give good marks in exams, so I pulled the chariot," says another devotee Puja Dutta.
While the rath yatra at Puri is just a single-day affair, at Baripada the festival lasts for three days and it begins a day after the Puri yatra, so that devotees can visit both the places.
"The significance of this rath yatra is that nowhere else in India are women given this special privilege and the women take great pride in pulling the rath to Mausui Maa temple," says the head priest at Jagannath temple in Baripada, Arun Mishra.
The unique tradition that started 31 years ago has made the rath yatra at Baripada an extremely popular event.
(With inputs from Suchi Yadav)
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